Burning Moon
by miakalina
Summary: Harlan and Josephine have been running for a long time. They need to find the Vampires that they're Uncle told them about. A coven that would be strong enough to save them from their own father.
1. Chapter 1

**Please don't give up. I know it's a bit long. The others aren't as long. Except chapter 4. I think. [:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

* * *

My sister is waiting for me under the tree where I left her. She was playing with the flowers around the trunk of the tree.

"Josephine!"

"Yes?"

"I found out where they are," I said as I ran toward the tree.

"Really? Where? How?" Josephine questioned suspiciously.

"I...uh...well there were these vampires in town."

"Oh, Harlan! You know we're supposed to be keeping a low profile. What if those vampires were part of Marlo's army? They could be following you _right_ now!" she screams, cutting me off. "Let me finish what I was saying!" I scream back. She calms down a bit and stares at me with a sour look in her expression.

"Okay, as I was saying, these vampires are nomads that were passing through. I could just tell they weren't part of Marlo's army." She was mumbling something under her breathe. "I walked up to them in an alley. Their names were Peter and Charlotte. I asked them if they had ever heard of the Cullens. 'Yes we do.' Peter said. I explained to them how important it was for us to find them."

I take a deep breathe before continuing.

"After I finished explaining, while leaving out the important details, he told me that I would be able to find the Cullens in Forks, Washington. He told us to be careful just in case we ran into the scent of werewolves that inhabit part of the area. Peter also said they had a half-human vampire living with them as well."

There is a long silence after I finish talking. Josephine is contemplating something. "Werewolves...another half-human...?" whispering quietly to herself. She stood up suddenly. I jumped. She didn't notice, she was lost in thought. There are humans walking by.

_Are you alright?_

"I'm fine." Answering as if I had spoken out loud.

_Do you think we should go to Forks?_

"That's the only clue we have."

Josephine took off into a sudden sprint. I run catching up to her in no time. I'm a lot faster than she is, but she's a lot stronger than I am. We balance each other out I guess. As we ran I couldn't help wondering what the Cullens would think of us. There wasn't really a easy way to explain to them why we were looking for them. We heard tale of a seer they had among their family. Would she see us coming? Do they already know we're looking for them? Are they ready for us?

We ran in silence. Since we were staying in the northern most mountains of California, we were almost to the border of Oregon. It would take at least one or two days before we reached Washington. Especially because we would need to hunt. As we reached the border we stopped at a gas station along the freeway. We washed up in their bathroom. Being half-human we can't go long with out stopping to rest.

I wash my face in the graffiti filled bathroom. I look at my reflection in the crusty mirror. My sister and I stand out in among the vampires. Humans don't see us as any different then they see themselves. We are about five feet tall, with long black hair that reaches our waist, our eyes are bright green, and skin that seems to glow when its in the sun. We have a smooth complexion and almost impenetrable skin that attracts a quite bit of unwanted attention. The only difference between us, is that Josephine has a small mole under her left eye right above her cheek.

Most of our time is spent away from humans and vampires alike. Due to the fact some human question us about our strangely beautiful appearance and our smooth glowing skin. Vampires don't usually give us enough time to explain what we are, so it's easier just to avoid them unless we need information. I was extremely lucky to find Peter and Charlotte who were unexpectedly understanding. Only because they'd already met someone else that was like us.

At a glance, my sister and I look like fifteen year old twins. The more they stare, the more they think we could be over twenty, but look young. We may look and think older than we are, but we're actually only ten years old.

"Are you done yet," Josephine called from outside the bathroom door. "Almost," I sighed. I checked the to make sure I had all the leaves and twigs out of my hair before leaving the bathroom. She was leaning against the wall next to the door.

"You take forever to get ready," she chuckled. I blushed slightly. "Should we keep going? Or should we hunt?"

"I'm a bit thirsty. Let's hunt on the way."

"Fine."

We started in the direction of the woods. A group of men blocked our path. There were three of them. The blond one was about six feet tall. His white t-shirt was stained and torn; his jeans were the same. He used a rubber band to tie his hair back. The second one was about the same height as the first with dark brown hair a half an inch long. He was wearing a long-sleeved plaid collar shirt and dark blue jeans. The last one was a red head. He had his hair spiked up. The white tank top he was wearing was tight fitted to his muscular upper body. He was wear black basketball shorts. They were all bare foot.

"Where are you young ladies headed to on a fine day like this?" the blond one asked.

"None of you business," Josephine spat at him. I instinctively grabbed her hand to keep her from attacking him. "There's no need to be mean. We were just wondering if you ladies would care to join us at a party we're heading to," he said calmly pointing at his friends. That's when I noticed the man with dark brown hair staring at Josephine with excitement in his eyes.

_I don't think that's all they want._

Without looking at me, Josephine squeezed my hand to let me know she knew it too. At the exact same time I saw a log floating behind the blond man's head. I fought back giggle.

"Hey!" I heard someone shout.

Startled, Josephine dropped the log. The men jumped. A young girl about sixteen years old ran over to where we stood. She was the same height as us, her hair was a mahogany color, and her eyes were a shocking blue. Her skin was a bit pale, but not as pale as ours. "Are you _harassing_ these girls?" the girl asked in an accusing tone. "Why _no_, we were _just_ asking them to a party tonight," the red head said. I was surprised when she walked in between us, "I don't think they're _interested_. You should move on along now."

Reluctantly they turned and left muttering to each other. I was amazed that they listened to this scrawny girl. "I'm sorry about that," she said turning around to look at us. "There's always creeps like them hanging around gas stations. Especially ones that attract travelers."

"You don't need to apologize," I told her. "It's not your fault."

She smiles at me still looking apologetic. "My name is Mischa Fuller."

I smile back at her, "I'm Harlan Gale."

"And I'm Josephine Gale," she said releasing my hand. "We were actually about to continue our trip to Washington." Mischa wouldn't have noticed, but I've been around Josephine too long. She was edging towards the woods. "Really? Why are you guys headed there?" Mischa asked innocently. "We're going to visit some...relatives," I answered.

"What part of Washington? My mom and I are going to go through Canada through Washington."

"Forks."

"You're walking all the way to _Forks_?" she asked sounding horrified.

"Um...well yes," I said. Mischa looked like she was angry. "I can't let you _walk_ to Forks!" she exclaimed. Technically we weren't walking, but I didn't want to say that. "There's a lot freaky people out there! Let my mom and me drop you off." She seemed excited, like she just made two new best friends. Little did she know, she was probably talking to the freakiest people she'd ever known. I was a bit frustrated because we could take care of ourselves. We _have_ been for almost five years. I looked at Josephine.

_Should we?_

Josephine looked at me with an exasperated expression. "I don't think we have a choice," she said under her breathe so Mischa wouldn't hear. We both looked at Mischa, who looked like she was going to jump out of her skin. "Okay," we said in unison almost sounding like a choir.

Mischa was so ecstatic that she opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. She grabbed both of us by the wrist and started pulling us toward a white _Sienna_. The woman in the front seat looked just like Mischa except older. Her eyes were the same shade of blue. She gave us a friendly smile. "Hi there!" she said waving.

"Mom can you drop my new friends off at Forks, Washington on the way to Canada?" Mischa asked already getting in the car. "Sure, thing sweetie." She pushed a button and the side doors opened. Josephine got in first. The door closed after I climbed in next to her. "I'm Josephine and this is my twin sister Harlan," Josephine said pointing at me. I waved a bit uncomfortably. "It's nice to meet you girls," Mischa's mom said as she started the car and left the gas station. "I'm Mischa's mom, Kelly Fuller. Just call me Kelly." She gave us a wink through the rear view mirror. We headed to the freeway. Mischa was talking almost constantly the whole time.

I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I knew Josephine was poking my cheeks. "Wake up, sis!" She was nudging me in the side. I opened my eyes and we were still in the _Sienna. _I looked out the window to see where we were. It was a building surrounded by a thick forest. _Everything_ seemed to be green, which was fine by me because green is my favorite color. It was just me and Josephine in the car. "Where's Kelly and Mischa?" I asked as I realized they were gone.

"Asking for directions to Cullen house in that store," she growled waving impatiently at the store in front of us. It was a backpacking supply store of some kind called _Newton's_. "How do they know about the Cullens? How long was I asleep?" How long _was_ I asleep. I didn't even know what time it was. "About six hours. I had to tell them. Kelly insisted on dropping us off _at_ our relatives house," she said in a quiet voice, shaking her head.

_What's wrong?_

"Nothing. A little nervous," she did look nervous. I'd never seen her look nervous before. I have to admit I was anxious about meeting the Cullens. A minute later the Fullers returned to the car.

"Hey your up," Mischa said cheerfully.

"Yeah, I didn't know I fell asleep."

_She's so perky. _Josephine chuckled under her breathe. "Well, we know where to take you now," Mischa's voice sounded sad. I realized why she was sad and said, "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll meet again someday."

Mischa gave me a weak smile and got in the passenger seat. Kelly was silent. She drove out of Forks until we couldn't see houses anymore. I almost thought they were trying to kidnap us, but she turned onto an unpaved driveway. We drove through the woods. It seemed endless. Finally I saw it. A large white house. I was sure Mischa and Kelly hadn't seen it yet. Their human eyes didn't work like ours. Josephine suddenly sat up. I knew she saw the house too. We said our goodbyes to the Fullers at the edge of the forest as far from the house as possible. We didn't want to put the Fullers in danger. Mischa burst into tears.

"We'll meet again," I comforted her.

"I hope so," she said through her tears.

"Goodbye," we all said at the simultaneously.

I wished them a safe trip to Canada while they drove away. As soon as they were out of sight Josephine reached for my hand and we turned to meet the family living in this house. Before we took a step there were vampires gathered at the front door. I squeezed Josephine's hand.

They were staring at us with surprised expressions on their faces. All of them were beautiful. Although I noticed that all of them had gold colored eyes instead of crimson except one. The one that spoke was the one with bronze colored hair. "Welcome. I am Carlisle. What brings you to our home?" he said calmly.

For the first time Josephine had nothing to say. She stood at an angle so that she was partially behind me. "I am Harlan Gale and this is my twin sister Josephine Gale." I paused. This time the one with reddish brown hair spoke. "They mean us no harm. They are just like our Renesmee," he said putting his hand on the head of a little girl that pushed her way to the front so she could see better. She looked like she was the size of a 4 year old human, but we knew she was more than human. Renesmee leaned forward sniffing our scent curiously. The girl with the crimson eyes picked her up and held her defensively. "_You're_ the reason I couldn't see anything right for the last week?" The one with short black hair spoke this time a little annoyed.

"Would you like to come in? It seems like you have something to tell us," Carlisle said. He gestured for us to walk through the door. Though we didn't move from our spot. I wanted to know how the one with reddish brown hair knew what we wanted.

_How did you know?_

His expression became blank.

"I can read minds," he said sounding smug. I was used to letting people hear the thoughts _I_ wanted them to hear. But he can read the thoughts I didn't want people to hear. My eyes began to narrow.

"Let's continue this inside, shall we?" Carlisle insisted.

I tugged on Josephine's hand to move her forward. The look she gave me told me she didn't intend on moving. _Don't worry. I'm here. _She nodded and walked with me. They made room for us to walk through the front door. We followed Carlisle down a hallway into what looked like their dining room. He waved at two chairs for us to sit in and went to go sit at the head of the table.

The rest of his family filed in and filled up the other chairs. Renesmee was on the girl with crimson eye's lap. "Let me introduce my family." He started from the right because we sat to his left. "This is my wife Esme, Edward, his mate Bella and their daughter Renesmee, Rosalie and Emmett, and Jasper and Alice." They all looked at us as if waiting for us to speak. Alice looked a bit frustrated. We kept quiet, not knowing what to say. "Now, why is that you've come here," he said in a kind voice.

"Our mother died the day we were born. She left us a letter that we found when we were five." I glanced at Josephine. She was staring at the table. I continued, "In the letter it said, 'If I do not live after the girls are born, I want my daughters Harlan and Josephine to go live with the Cullens.' It also said, 'Your father will be looking for you when you are seven. Do _not_ let him catch you.'"

I looked at the faces staring at me. They were shocked by my words.

"Who _is_ your mother, if you don't mind my asking," Edward asked.

"I don't mind at all. Since you can read minds you probably already know," I said. He nodded. "Her name was Elizabeth Gale. I don't know how she knew about your family. She probably heard tales from our...father and thought we would be safe here.

"We don't want to be a burden. Of course we realize you have a large family. If there is no room for us we understand. We don't want to intrude," I said. Josephine was staring at me. I could tell even though I wasn't looking at her.

No one spoke for about half a second. "So you're half-human?" Bella asked.

"Yes."

"Your father is a vampire?"

"Yes."

Bella stared at me like she was longing to ask me more, but stopped herself. "I suppose we have room don't we," Carlisle said finally. His family seemed to think otherwise. The only one who seemed genuinely pleased was his wife, Esme. She flashed a caring smile at us. "We can't just refuse them now can we." It was more of a command than a question.

Esme showed us to the guest bedroom. It was nice. The walls were white. There was a king size bed with beautiful sheets. Everything in the room matched. We thanked Esme and followed her back into the living room. The others were sitting around watching T.V. I saw Renesmee playing in the backyard with a giant wolf through the glass walls that made up the back of the house.

The wolf scared me, but I kept the fear to myself. Everyone turned to stare at us as we walked in the room. We just stood there. Renesmee came into the house and walked right up to me. The wolf stood in the doorway watching us. Instinctively I put up a force field around us. It looked like she walked into an invisible wall. She fell down looking dazed. The others flocked to her to make sure she was okay.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to," I said backing up.

"I'm okay," Renesmee said in a high, bell like voice. She smiled at me and I felt better at once. "How did you do that?" Her expression was full of curiosity. It was quiet. Everyone was waiting for my answer. "It's one of my abilities," I said slowly.

"That's so cool," Renesmee's voice chimed.

"You said it's _one _of your abilities. What's the other one?" Jasper asked looking vaguely interested. I looked at him unsure of myself. Josephine linked her arm in mine to comfort me. "Interesting." This time Edward spoke. His mind reading was getting annoying. He was smiling to himself.

"What is?" Bella asked.

"I'll let them explain," Edward answered.

"I can transmit my thoughts to any mind from any distance as long as I know where they are," I explained. "And I..." Josephine started. She looked at me and I smiled reassuringly. "I can move objects with my mind and..."

"You can move objects with your mind?" Rosalie asked, in a tone of disbelief.

I laughed quietly and Josephine smiled. "Do you think you could show us? I've _never_ heard of anyone being able to do _that,_" Emmett coaxed from the sofa. Josephine unlinked our arms and looked around. There was a piano in the corner of the living room.

_The piano._

Josephine giggled.

I looked at her to see where she was looking. The others followed my gaze. She was staring at the piano that I pointed out for a second and suddenly it was 2 feet above the floor. The Cullens jumped back in surprise. "Please don't break my piano," Edward pleaded, amused at the same time. We both laughed this time.

_Put it down. _The piano gracefully floated back into place, landing without a sound. "Amazing," Carlisle said to himself.

"I can also control the thought process and emotions with my singing." Josephine looked a bit more comfortable now. "Like Uncle Jasper!" Renesmee blurted out with excitement. "I just control the emotions around me. I can't do anything with my voice."

That explains why we felt so comfortable. It was oddly quiet. The silence lasted about a minute long, yet it was excruciating. No one seemed to know what to say. "Harlan?" Bella called approaching me.

"Yes?"

"Do you think you could do that thought transmitting thing to me. I'm curious."

I smiled slightly and thought it over. I didn't know what I should say to her. Then it came to me. _Are you Renesmee's birth mother? _I made sure only she heard it, besides Edward. She stared at me with a blank expression for a second then answered. "Yes, yes I am." Edward was staring at me. It felt like his eyes were burning into my skin. I could feel myself turning red.

The sound of rain tapping on the glass broke the silence. There were so many clouds it looked like the middle of the night. It was only about three in the afternoon. Josephine nudged my side. As I looked up I saw her walking toward the piano. I followed her, not wanting to stand alone. She sat on the bench in front of the piano keys. "May I?" she asked touching the keys lightly. Edward seemed a bit hesitant, but he nodded in approval. With both her hands over the keys, she began to play.

She played a song by Ludwig Van Beethoven called _Fur Elise_. Half way through the song she paused and started singing our song. She continued playing a her variation of _Fur Elise._ I joined in our song. Our voices were similar, but mine did not have the same effect that hers did. There was a loud menacing growl coming from the woods and Josephine stopped play at once.

"Don't worry. That's one of the werewolves that live in this area," Alice assured us. "Her name is Leah. She's unsure of you two. Then again she _is_ always too uptight." Alice and Rosalie began giggling hysterically. A low growl stopped their enjoyment of an inside joke we didn't understand. The growl came from the doorway. Instead of a wolf there was a giant boy, or man. I couldn't tell. His head was brushing the top of the doorway. He was muscular and he had a nasty scent.

"You know, Jacob, you're almost as uptight as she is," Rosalie snuffed at him. "It's not our fault she..." Before she finished they broke out in hysterical laughter again. Jacob took one long stride forward. Jasper and Emmett were in front of him before I could blink. "Jacob."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

**Here's where we learn a little bit more about our main characters: The Gales**

* * *

Jacob was outside trying to calm down. He didn't want to go, but Bella made him. "That wasn't very nice Rose, Alice."

"I never said I was nice," Rosalie pointed out. Alice was still smiling. Jasper had his arms around her waist with his face in her hair. Bella turned to watch Renesmee play with her dolls. "I'm lost," Josephine said. "Is there a joke we're not getting?" she asked. Rosalie chuckled. "Right now isn't the right time to talk about it," said Alice.

Esme came to sit next to us. We had moved from the piano to the couch to get away from the fight. "Your mother..." Everyone stopped talking and looked at Esme. "I didn't know her, but I think I knew your great-grandmother." There was a shelf to the right of the couch. She walked over to it and pulled a few photo albums off. They were covered in dust. I don't think it'd been opened in years. She brought them back to the sofa. This time Alice joined her with Jasper behind her.

"It was about 50 or 60 years ago," Esme said opening the first album. She looked through it quickly. I don't think she found the right picture because she threw it on the floor. She opened the next one did the same thing. In the second to last album she finally found what she was looking for. Alice reached for the album to see the picture on the page. There were two women hugging each other in the photo.

"That's me," she said pointing at the woman on the right. "And that, is your great-grandmother." Looking at the photo brought back memories that made her smile. "Jenny Gale," Carlisle said from behind us, nodding to himself. Josephine and I stared at the young woman in the photograph. She had the same waist length black hair. The picture was black and white, but I could tell her eyes were green.

Rosalie wondered over to the couch. "Jenny...the woman that lived in Richmond, Virginia?"

"Yes, we met her the day we moved to Richmond," she said thoughtfully. "Jenny was very kind and welcoming. If I remember correctly she had a son named Bryan Gale. We spent a lot of time together. She became a very close friend of mine."

"Too close," Edward added.

Esme's smile disappeared. "Her husband, Landon Gale, became suspicious of us. Jenny said he was just jealous. He was a very rich and important person back then. People would follow us around whenever they saw us in town. After a while he thought about giving up. Until one night Landon heard noises in the forest. When he found the source of the noise, there was Emmett crouched over a dead bear sucking it's blood. Landon tried to run back to town to tell everyone what he saw, but Emmett caught him," she looked around to find Emmett. Emmett was watching television frozen like ice.

"He couldn't be allowed to live after finding out our secret," Carlisle continued. His hands were in tight fists. "After he died we left before anyone knew what happened. We made it look like he ran off somewhere and went missing so people wouldn't ask Jenny too many questions."

"I never got to say goodbye to Jenny," Esme said staring at the photo albums on the floor. "Jenny already knew what we were. It didn't bother her. I'm sure she knew what must have happened to her husband. She must have told stories to her children, then her children's children." She looked at us and reached out for the album. We gave it back reluctantly. She took the photo out and handed it to Josephine. "I want you girls to keep that."

"Thank you," we said together in our choir like voice.

"When your mother realized she was carrying half-vampire children she must have remembered stories passed down in your family. But why she sent you to us I can't understand. You said she wanted you to run from your father. Who is he?" Esme asked.

Josephine and I didn't know what to say. "Who's Marlo?" Edward asked. I forgot he was there. Edward and his damn mind reading. He started laughing so I knew he heard that. I glared at him.

_You tell them. _I thought to Josephine.

She sighed and said, "We don't know much about him. We only know stories. One story was from our Uncle. He says that our family has known about vampires for a long time. Our mother knew our father was a vampire the first time she saw him. His eyes were black like a coal and that gave him away. She fell in love with him the night they met. He originally wanted to kill her to quench his thirst. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. So he stayed in Richmond with our mother.

"Marlo had been planning to over throw the...Volturi. He decided to start making his army in Richmond so he could stay by her side. But when he found out our mother was pregnant, all he could think about was the power the we might have and how he would use that power to his advantage. Our mother was frightened of what might happen to us. She fled Richmond and went to the mountains in California with our Uncle."

Josephine stopped telling the story. I could see the anguish in her face. The rest of the story wasn't very pleasant to talk about. She couldn't continue so I decided that I could help them hear it in my head.

_Shortly after reaching the shadows of the mountains, our mother went into labor. She was in so much pain. There was nothing we could do. We had to come out._

I couldn't bring myself to think of the details.

_When it was over she held us and told us how much she loved us. She closed her eyes and never woke up. Our uncle took us away. He raised us until we were six. We found the letter from our mom when we were five. Our uncle wanted us to stay with him for another year. After we turned six they came for us. They came a year early. We think they knew we might try to run. Marlo had sent his "slaves" Tristan and Bridget. We were lucky. If he sent the others we wouldn't even have made out of the house._

Josephine starts to sob. I put my arm around her and pull her close. _He pushed us out the back door and told us to run and never look back...we heard screaming and things breaking. There was thick smoke in the sky. We could smell the fire burning behind us. They followed us until the sun came out. Since we were safe in the sun they couldn't pursue us. They tried to keep up with us in the shadows, but they couldn't. They were always yelling things like 'You'll _never _get away!'. We reached Jacksonville, California. That's where we met Peter and Charlotte. They told us to come here. That we would find you._

Jasper was surprised when I mentioned Peter and Charlotte. No one spoke though. We sat still for what felt like hours maybe more. "You girls have gone through _so_ much," Esme says and hugs us tightly. Josephine stopped cry, but her breathing was ragged. I held on to her to make sure she didn't break down again. Renesmee climbs on my lap and touches my face. I flinched. I could see me and Josephine laughing in the backyard. We were playing with Renesmee in the sun. I started to smile. She was trying to tell me to be happy and that I was going to play with her tomorrow whether I liked it or not.

"Nessie you can't _force_ people to play with you," Edward said. She grinned and everyone started laughing. Suddenly I felt a burning sensation in my throat. "I think we should go hunting," I said looking at Josephine who was clutching her throat.

"Okay," she says.

"May we come?" Bella asks looking at Renesmee.

"The more the merrier," I said. It's good to have company now a days. We take off through the back door. Bella is faster than us because she's a full vampire. She doesn't run head of us though. Instead she stays behind to watch Renesmee.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

* * *

Since the Cullens were "vegetarians" we decided not to hunt humans. Animal blood was great, but it filled me up. The burning in my throat was down to a simmer. When we returned home everyone was still in the living room. Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice were watching television. Carlisle and Esme were listening to Edward play the piano. As soon as we walked through the door Edward had his arms around Bella.

"How was the hunt?" he asked her.

"It was fine," she said. "Renesmee caught a giant buck." She was beaming at Renesmee who was in the living room twirling in circles for Rosalie. Before she could say more he pulled her face to his. I walked away with Josephine to the living room. Josephine went to sit in the armchair and I sat on the floor next to Renesmee. Watching Edward and Bella made my stomach uneasy. At least that's what I thought it was. I leaned back against Josephine's legs. My head felt like it was spinning. Josephine leaned forward and asked, "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm a little dizzy," I said with my head between my legs. I looked up and everything blurred. It was like the colors blended and twisted together in my eyes. I closed my eyes and fell over.

What happened? My head was pounding. I felt groggy. I could hear voices and foot steps. "Is she okay?" a voice said. It might have been Josephine. "I think she's going to be fine." This voice sounded like Carlisle.

"I think her _human_ side caught a...'cold' if you will," he said. "I don't really know what to call it. It _seems_ like the common cold." There were more footsteps. "How is she?" Bella asked. "She's coming around. Her thoughts are clear now," Edward answered.

I opened my eyes. The light blinded me for a half a second. I sat up too quickly. The colors starting swirling again. Josephine caught me before I fell. "Don't get up Harlan," sh

e said lying me back down. "What happened?" I asked.

"You passed out."

"Really?"

"Yeah, how do you feel?"

"Like crap."

She laughed at me. "We should let her rest now," Carlisle said. Josephine gave me a kiss on the cheek and walked out of the room. Edward and Bella left next. "Get well soon," Bella said before she leaving. Carlisle stayed for a few minutes. He took my temperature and checked my blood pressure. "You seem better now. Although I highly suggest at least a day of rest to make sure." I nodded as he talked. I don't know when, but eventually I dozed off. I woke up in the guest bedroom.

Josephine came in and hugged me so hard it hurt. "Harlan don't scare me like that" she was sobbing. "Sorry. I don't know why I passed out like that," I said. I got off the bed to make sure my legs were still working. Josephine was giggling at me because I was lifting my legs up and down like I was riding a bike.

"I see your feeling a lot better," Carlisle said as he came in. Renesmee and Bella followed behind him. They were smiling at me. Their smiles were warm and caring. Renesmee came to me and gave me a hug. "I'm glad you feel better," she said. "Are we going to play outside today?"

"If you still want to," I said picking her up. Renesmee touched my face again. This time she showed us singing and dancing by the river. "Josephine she wants us to sing and dance with her."

"Ha ha, okay," she said. I left the room and went into the living room. Everyone was there as usual. They greeted me as I entered. I said a few hellos and went straight through the back door. Josephine was right behind us. I set Renesmee down on the grass and she ran towards the rocks by the river. We followed her and stopped under a tree to watch her twirl. The wolf must have returned because there was a nasty smell in the air. The others were watching from the house. I could hear them laughing and enjoying themselves as they watched Renesmee dance.

"Come dance with me," she said pulling us to the rocks.

"Okay okay," Josephine said. We started singing and dancing. Renesmee seemed to really enjoy our singing. I don't know if it's because of Josephine's ability. I made a mental note to ask Edward later. We were doing a dance that we did when we were younger. Renesmee followed us magnificently. I could hear the others at the house.

"What language is that?" Bella asked.

"Latin," Edward answered.

"It's beautiful," she said quietly.

We finished singing and stopped dancing. Renesmee was clapping her hands. The others were clapping as well. Our cheeks turned red and we gave a little curtsy. "Ready to go home Renesmee?" Josephine asked.

"Okay," she said in her adorable voice. "You can call me Nessie you know." She gave us that brilliant smile. "Anything you want Nessie," I said. She ran to Bella and Edward. "Don't worry. She loved your song. It wasn't just the ability," Edward whispered as we walked by. I grinned at him. Figures, I should of known he'd be listening.

We'd been staying with the Cullens for about a month. They treated us like we were part of they're family. I spent a lot of time with Bella and Nessie. I wasn't very comfortable around Jacob, but he always wanted to be around Nessie. Josephine liked to follow Rose around. Rose has been teaching her about fashion, doing her hair, and putting on make-up. Since we grew up without a mother there were things that we didn't really understand. I loved being around Bella and Nessie because I could feel the bound between them. No one taught us how to be "girlie". So I understood why Josephine enjoyed being with Rose.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to the heels." I could hear Rose saying upstairs. I laughed to myself and walked toward the back door. I could hear Edward, Bella, and Nessie coming from their cottage home in the woods. They were at the steps of the back door before I had time to open it. Nessie jumped into my arms and gave me a hug, then jumped off. "What should we do today?" she asked.

"I don't know. Anything," I said. We went to the living room to sit on the couch. Rose and Josephine came downstairs. Josephine was blushing under the make-up on her face. She was in a yellow sun dress and heels. I giggled a little and Rose shot me a dirty look. That made my laugh louder. Josephine looked depressed. "It's not that you look _ugly_ or anything. It's just that I've never seen you dress up before," I said trying to breathe. My breathing calmed and I added, "You really do look pretty Josephine." Her faced turned red and she went to sit next to me.

"I want to play dress up too," said Nessie looking at Rose. "Of course Nessie," Rose said picking her up and running upstairs. "Where are Jasper and Alice?" Bella asked. No sooner had she finished her question Jasper and Alice were bounding across the river. They came in the house with worried expressions on their faces. "What's wrong?" Bella asked rushing to Alice.

"There's someone coming," she said in a small voice.

"Who?"

"I don't know, but whoever it is he's looking for the twins," she said giving us a wary look.

That's what she liked to call us. The twins. This time it wasn't so funny when she said it.

"Are you sure?" Edward demanded.

"He was saying their names repeatedly. More like chanting really," Alice muttered. My heart felt like it was going to fall out of my body. Josephine was squeezing my hand so hard it would have hurt if I wasn't already frozen with fear. "What did he look like?" It was Rose with Nessie. I hadn't seen them come downstairs. They must have heard the commotion. I could feel Jasper trying to calm us down. It wasn't working that well. Before I knew it everyone was gathered in the living room. Seconds later Jacob and a few members of his wolf pack arrived; Quil, Embry, and Leah.

Jacob looked at all the worried faces. "What's going on?" he asked.

"He looks like he's about seventeen years old. Almost as big as Emmett with blond hair. There's a necklace around his neck. The pendant is shaped like a cherry blossom..."

"Shane!" Josephine exclaimed. Without warning she darted out the back door toward the forest. The young man Alice was describing emerged from the thick trees. Josephine was only a few yards away from him when she leaped toward him. He opened his arms as landed on him throwing her arms around his neck. She was sobbing into his shoulder. Shane pulled her upright and kissed her gently. Josephine tightened her hold around his neck and kissed him back.

"Idiot," I said slapping my head.

"Who is that," Rose asked.

"Shane," I shrugged.

"And _who_ is Shane?" she pressed impatiently.

"Well, when we left our uncle, she left him behind too," I replied. Rose and Alice were waiting for me to continue. I sighed, "_He_ is _her_ mate. He's human obviously, but she loves him anyway."

I returned my focus to my sister. They were walking hand in hand to the house. "Everyone, this is Shane," she said giving him loving look. I thought I was going to be sick. Shane noticed, "Hey Harlan."

"What are you doing here?" I growled.

"I just couldn't stand being away from Josephine," he said pulling her into a tight hug. They started kissing again and I went back in the house. I could hear the others greeting Shane. Edward, Bella, and Nessie were the firsts to come inside. "He's not as bad as you think. He really does love Josephine," Edward said patting me on the shoulder.

"I know that," I snapped back.

"Then what's wrong?" Bella asked.

"That lovey-dovey stuff makes me _sick_," I muttered. "And they're always like that." Bella and Edward were laughing at me. I turned scarlet red. At least that's what it felt like. Everyone was returning to the living room. Josephine had her arms around Shane's waist as she walked in. I tried not to look at them. "Our house is getting quite full isn't it?" Carlisle said cheerfully. "On a more serious note, I don't know if we have room here."

Josephine started pouting. "Not to worry. I'm stay at a hotel in Port Angeles," he said. She kissed him on the cheek and put her head on his chest. "Good," I said. No one seemed to hear me. I glanced at Carlisle. It looked like he was conversing with himself, but then I noticed Edward staring at Carlisle.

"Well I suppose I should be going. I came tonight just to make sure you were really here," said Shane."No! Please don't go," Josephine whined. You could see the longing in her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

* * *

"I'll be back tomorrow, my love," Shane said as he kissed her good night.

I rolled my eyes and went upstairs. "Harlan," Rose called as I walked past her room.

"Yes?" I said.

"Come here for a moment," she whispered. I entered her room for the first time. It was like the chambers of a queen. She had a huge canopy bed. All the furniture was made of mahogany. On the right wall there was a large mirror over her dresser.

"So..." she began. "I was wondering if you could tell a little bit about Shane." I could sense that she was a little worried. "What do you want to know?" I asked pretending to look around.

"Well, how did they meet?"

"We were hunting. I ran across him first. I thought nothing of it. Before I got a chance to attack him Josephine was already next to me. At first it looked like she saw a ghost. I tried to lunge for his throat, but she pinned me to a tree. 'No!' she screamed at me. She dragged me home and made me promise never to attack him again."

Rose was giggling quietly. "It's sweet that they're in love."

"But it's very dangerous," she said in a more stern voice.

"No kidding," I said a bit sarcastic. "He makes her happy. Who am I to deny her the happiness she deserves."

"You know you should let me dress you up sometimes," Rose said changing the subject. She probably felt that I didn't wish to continue. "I don't know about that..." I started.

"That's a great idea!" Alice chimed cutting me off as she danced into the room. This was going to be a _long_ day.

"Are we done yet?" I groaned.

"Fine. We'll come back next weekend," Alice said with a grin. She and Rose went to pay for the load of clothes they were forcing me to buy. I left the store to sit on the bench outside and wait for them. There were a group of girls huddled next to the Starbucks stand in front of the store. I could feel them staring at me.

"Who's the freak?" I heard one girl say.

"Your just mad because she's cuter than you are," another girl said.

They started arguing. I could feel my cheeks turning pink. This girl I didn't know was _defending_ me. I wanted to thank her. Rose and Alice emerged from the store with giant bags of clothes. They probably heard the girls talking about me. Alice gave them a menacing look and they scurried away. "Don't listen to them Harlan. They're just jealous. Typical teenagers."

I didn't say anything the whole trip home. Rose and Alice looked concerned. They kept promising to tear those girls limb from limb next time. That made me smile a little. I couldn't help wonder who that girl was.

When we got home Josephine and Shane were on the stairs in a passionate embrace. I rushed into the house so that I wouldn't have to look at them. Renesmee ran to me and gave me a hug to welcome me home. She touched me face; I saw her and me playing dress up. I wanted to protest, but before I knew it Rose and Alice had swept me upstairs.

"This will make you feel better Harlan!" Alice exclaimed cheerfully.

It was hours before the decided on what they wanted me to wear tomorrow. Apparently there was a big occasion I didn't know about. Downstairs Carlisle was calling everyone into the living room. After everyone was settled he said, "It's time for all of you to go to school." I noticed that Shane was gone. "You'll all be attending Port Angeles High School."

Rose looked like she was going to protest. Of course Alice already knew. This would be my first time in school, Josephine too. "Edward, Bella, Alice, Harlan, and Josephine will be sophomores. Emmett, Rose, and Jasper will me juniors."

"When does school start?" I asked.

"Tomorrow," he said.

No wonder they made me go on a shopping spree. I sighed and Alice said, "We'll help you get used to school." She gave me a reassuring smile. It worked. "Edward, Alice, and Emmett will be using the last name Cullen. Rose and Jasper will be the Hales. Harlan and Josephine will be the Gales," Carlisle said looking around the room. They've all been through this before, but we haven't. After the family meeting Alice and Rose rushed us upstairs to see how they wanted to do our hair.

I reluctantly woke up the next morning. The thought of school had intrigued me to wake me. Josephine was up before I was and Rose was doing her hair. I took a quick cold shower to wake me up. Alice was waiting for me outside the bathroom. She pulled me to the counter in her bathroom and started putting some make-up on me. After she was done, she switched with Rose so she could curl my hair. "I think you'll like school. If any of those humans say anything rude to you, you let me know," she winked. Even though she was smiling I knew she was serious.

The way the Cullens took us in was far beyond amazing. They've been so kind to us. I told myself I owed it to them _not_ to mess things up. Rose finished curling my hair and told me to get dressed and meet her in the garage. I was going to school with Rose, Alice, and Josephine in Rose's new silver BMW Z3 that Emmett bought her last week.

Emmett, Jasper, Edward, and Bella were taking Edward's Volvo. I went to my room and pulled the outfit they chose for me yesterday from the closet. It was a cute green spaghetti strap dress that reached just above my knees. Attached to the hanger was a new bra. There was a note attached.

_Where this under the dress. - Alice_

I sighed a little. Alice. I put on the bra and dress. I grabbed the white 3 inch heels from the shoe rack next to the door and slipped them on. My bag was already in the living room so I didn't need to worry about that. I walked into the bathroom to look at myself to make sure I didn't look weird. For a second I didn't recognize myself. I twirled a bit to make sure it was me. Strangely, I liked the way I looked.

Josephine walked in the bathroom. She was wearing something similar except her dress had plaid print with a thick belt around her waist.

"You look cute sis," she said.

"Thanks, so do you," I replied.

"Come on we don't want to be late." She grabbed my hand and we ran downstairs together. We hadn't spent much time together lately. Now that Shane was here our time together will be even more limited. We grabbed our bags and headed to the garage. Everyone was already in the garage waiting. Alice was beaming at me. I felt myself turn scarlet. "Women take so long to get ready," Emmett said. Alice gave him her kill look and he shut up. I was grateful for that. We got in Rose's car and left first. Everyone in their family drove extremely fast. Usually it would take at least an hour to get to Port Angeles, but we got there in half the time.

Since Rose, Emmett, and Jasper were "juniors" they had to go to a different building for orientation. The rest of us walked together to building B. The other students were staring at us. We could hear them talking and asking questions.

"Wow look at the new kids." "She's not that pretty." "Are they twins?" "They're all hot." "They look like freaks."

I tried to block out all the conversations around us. Edward reached the door first and held it open for us like a gentlemen. We took seats in the back. I was glad that no one would be able to stare at us without making it obvious. The orientation teacher passed everyone their schedules. Mine was:

_Period 1: PE_

_Period 2: English 3-4_

_Period 3: Intermediate Algebra_

_Period 4: Biology_

_Period 5: Modern World History_

_Period 6: Japanese_

Great I get to get all sweaty first thing in the morning. We all exchanged schedules to see if we had any classed together. I had Japanese with Edward, PE with Alice, thank goodness, and Algebra with Josephine. The bell rang and everyone left to go to their first period. Alice already knew where she was going. She pulled me by the arm to make sure I didn't run. The gym wasn't very big. It was smaller than the Cullen house. There were a few bleachers on the left wall. We sat in the from row, all Alice's doing.

People were still staring at us. They kept their distance thankfully. The PE teacher/Basketball coach went through his guidelines with us and started talking about the sports we'd be doing. I wasn't really looking forward to that part. Since it was the first day all we did was buy our PE uniform, which was were green shorts and white shirts, and get lockers. Near the end of the period a boy worked up the nerve to come talk to us. He had short black hair in cute little baby spikes. His eyes were sky blue. I couldn't help, but look at his clothes. He had on a button up plaid collar shirt with dark blue jeans. He was really cute for a human.

"Hi. My name is Chase Reese. What are your names?"

"I'm Alice and this is Harlan," she answered.

"So where are you ladies from? I've never seen you before," he asked.

"We moved from Alaska to Forks, Washington," Alice said smoothly.

"Why are you coming to school in Port Angeles?"

"Is there something wrong with that?" I hissed holding back a growl.

"No. I was just curious because that's a bit far," he said quickly. "So what classes do you ladies have next?"

"I have Algebra," said Alice. "English," I muttered.

"I have English too. Do you want to walk together?" he asked eagerly. Oh great. "Sure I guess," I say trying to sound casual. The bell rang and Alice ran off. She gave me a sly grin before she left. By the time we reached our English class he'd gone through every detail of the school. Gossip, drama, who's dating who, who's broken up, the teachers, the best parking spots, and so on. I tried to make it seem like I was interested so as not to hurt his feelings.

After we got to class I attempted to go sit in the back, but Chase ushered me to the two front seats left. I really didn't want to be in the front. I just sighed and took the seat next to his. A few girls gave me dirty looks. Until now I hadn't realized that Chase was probably one of the popular boys at this school.

The teacher came in and they stopped staring. She walked to the board and wrote her name; _Mrs. Chaney_. She looked like she could pass for a high school student. The boys were practically drooling over our teacher. I snickered to myself. The only boy who didn't was Chase. I glanced at him and he gave me a cute little boyish smile. I returned my attention to the teacher because I felt myself turn red. _Why was I blushing? This is so stupid!_ I thought. _Alice I'll get you for this!_

I knew Alice heard me. I directed my thoughts directly at her. She was probably having fits of laughter right now. Sometimes I couldn't help wonder if Alice was a little devious. Mrs Chaney was droning on and on about some author named Laurie Halse Anderson. She handed out books that we'd be reading for the next 2 weeks. _Speak,_ I turned it over to read the description. It looked interesting. If I read it now I'd probably finish in a few minutes. That would hardly seem fair to the other students. _I'll read it when I get home._ I thought stuffing the book into my bag. The bell rang for nutrition. I rose up to leave when a girl walked by and bumped me with her shoulder. It took all my strength not to lunge for her throat and rip her to shreds.

"Watch where you're going Madison," Chase growled standing next to me.

"Er...sorry," she croaked looking at the floor. She rushed out the door.

"Thanks," I muttered. I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks.

"No problem," he replied. He walked with me until I found Alice. She was too happy for comfort. "I'll see you at lunch?" he asked. "Sure," I said a little too quickly. Alice's smile grew wider. He turned and went back the direction we came. "So..." she started.

"Don't," I warned her.

"He seemed like a nice guy," she shrugged.

"It doesn't matter." Chase was a nice guy. "So how was English?" she asked trying to change the subject. "It was alright. Some girls were giving me dirty looks. One purposely bumped me on my way out of class." For a second she was silent. "Which one was it?" she pressed.

"He said her name was Madison. Don't worry about it, Chase told her off," I grinned unwillingly. Alice was beside herself. "He _already_ loves you. That's too _cute_," she crooned at me like I was a baby. "He does not," I snapped. Before I could tell her off Josephine walked over to us with a human behind her. "Hey sis," she said taking my hand. "This is Lynn." The girl waved at us. She looked scared. "Hi! I'm Alice." Alice was always upbeat. "I'm Harlan." My voice was flat and I crossed my arm over my chest. Josephine could tell I was annoyed. She looked Alice for an explanation. Alice just shrugged her shoulders. You could always count on Alice to keep a secret. I half smiled at Alice to thank her.

_Bring. Bring._ I was already tired of these stupid bells.

"Let's go Harlan," Josephine chimed. She grabbed my arm and pulled me outside. I waved goodbye over my shoulder. Alice shouted something about meeting for lunch. We headed for the math building. Our class was at the top floor. It took forever to climb the four flights of stairs at human speed. Josephine stopped me outside the door. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"You're acting weird."

"And you're not?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just drop it."

"No!" she shouted at me. She never raised her voice at me before. I felt the anger building up. I sighed. "We just don't get to spend a lot time together anymore," I lied. I wasn't ready to tell her about Chase. There was nothing to tell really, but she would make a big deal about it. Her face changed from rage to loving in milliseconds. "Oh I miss you too," she said. She gave me a hug and moved so I could enter the classroom first. All the students had already been seated. The teacher wasn't there yet. We took two seats in the back. All eyes were on us, again.

The lunch bell rang. I thought I'd never get past fourth period without tearing one of those human girls apart. They all seriously needed an attitude adjustment. Lynn was the only human girl I could tolerate. She was genuinely honest and sweet. I could see why Josephine liked her. I walked towards the cafeteria looking for the others. There was a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to scream at whoever it was not to touch me. It was Chase. My face burned from embarrassment.

"Hey," he said smiling at me.

I felt my heart lurch out from my chest. _What is going on here? _I screamed in my head. I was glad that his human ears couldn't hear heartbeats. "Shall we?" he gestured toward the cafeteria. All I could do was nod. He put his hand on the small of my back and lead me to the lunch line.

Food wasn't that repulsive to me as it was to my new family. Although I preferred blood. I took some pizza and a soda to make myself seem normal. After a quick search of the cafeteria I found the others huddled at a large table in the farthest corner of the room. Chase followed my gaze. "Go ahead. I'll go eat over here." He looked at a table of boys and girls. The girls looked at him eagerly and the boys seemed angry. "Okay. I'll see you later," I said leaving him to his friends.

"Who was that?" Josephine asked. I could tell she was mad.

"Just a guy from my English class." Everyone was looking at me. No one said anything because Lynn was sitting with us. I knew I was really going to get it when we got in the car to go home. I ate silently while the others talked about their day so far. Something was bothering me. Why could a mere human make me feel like this? I told myself when I was younger I'd never be like Josephine and fall in love with a human. Is that what was happening? When lunch was over I got up. emptied my tray, and hurried to class.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

* * *

The house finally came into view. I was glad to be home. It was only the first day of school and I already hated. I hated the human girls, the nasty food, and the fact that Alice was trying to find me a boyfriend. Instead of going home in Rose's car I switched places with Jasper and went home in Edward's.

"Are you okay Harlan?" Bella asked. I felt bad for making her worry about me. "I'm fine," I mumbled. Edward didn't ask me questions. He already knew the answers. "Do you want to go hunting with me tonight Harlan?" she asked.

"Okay."

We pulled into the garage. Rose pulled in next to us. I jumped out of the car and darted for my room. Esme had two extra rooms added to the house. The guest bedroom wasn't big enough for the two of us. Especially after all the clothes Rose and Alice bought. My room was next to Jasper and Alice's room. I asked for aquamarine walls and a canopy bed like Rose's. My sheets were aquamarine so that they matched my walls. Josephine's room was next door to mine. Her walls were lavender. She had a king size bed with a headboard that doubled as a book shelf. Both of our closets were as big as our rooms. They had a door that connected them so we could borrow each other's clothes.

I locked the door behind me and made sure the door in the closet was locked too. I jumped on my bed and laid there for a minute. _Now what do I do? Josephine's going to kill me if I don't tell her the truth._

_Knock knock._

"Who is it?" I asked muffled by the blanket.

"Bella."

I groaned and got up to open the door. She came in and I locked it again. "You shouldn't lock yourself in your room like this."

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You said you'd go hunting with me remember?" she sounded perplexed. I looked at the clock and it was already nine. It only felt like I'd been in here for a few minutes. "Sorry, I forgot," I said. I grabbed a random sweater off a rack in the closet and unlocked the door. Bella headed toward Edward's old bedroom. She opened the window/wall and dived head first out the window. There were no sounds when she landed. "Jump," she yelled up at me. I hesitated for a moment and leaped out the window. I lost focus and almost crashed. Bella was there to catch me.

We both laughed as we started running. Of course she had to run slower than usual. I wasn't _slow_, but I wasn't as fast as a full fledge vampire. It was nice to get some air. We hadn't run more than a mile when we saw someone walking in the woods. The scent was human. It was familiar. This person was stumbling around, lost. We were about half a mile away when we came across a new scent. It was icy and sweet. Another vampire. I looked at Bella and she nodded. She took off ahead of me to make sure the human was okay.

I sped up trying to reach Bella. There was an ear piercing scream. A second later I could hear what sounded like many branches breaking off a tree. I started to panic. Once I reached the spot the human was at I couldn't see Bella.

"Bella!" I screamed. "Bella!"

Someone covered my mouth and twirled me around. Bella. Thank goodness. Her shirt was torn down the side and her hair was array. There was deep concern in her eyes. Then it hit me. Human blood. I looked around to locate the human it was coming from. There was a trail of blood on the ground. I followed it around a bush. First I saw the vampire. It was Bridget. I couldn't believe it. They found us. How?

I continued to follow the trail. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw next. Chase. My sobs hit me hard without warning and knocked me to my knees. I punched the ground shaking in fury. There was smoke in the air. Bella was making a fire. I heard her throw Bridget's body into the fire. The smoke turned purple. I just laid there next to Chase's lifeless body. Why him?

Bella was trying to console me. She urged that we should go home. I wouldn't budge. My sobbing didn't stop. Finally Bella couldn't wait any longer. She swooped me into her arms and ran home. I was clinging to her and sobbing into her already ruined shirt. We reached the house in half a minute. She set me down in the living room and I collapsed on the floor. Josephine rushed to my side. "What-" someone was about to ask. Bella began to explain what happened. Alice was with me and Josephine. She cradled me in her lap and caressed my hair trying to calm me down.

After everything was said it was quiet except for my sobs. "What do we do?" Alice asked still holding me in her lap. "If they're already here we'll probably have to leave," answered Carlisle. "We can't leave! We _just _started school," I said between sobs. I knew how much Rose hated to move. "Who was the human that was killed?" Jasper asked.

I held my breathe to stop the sobbing. Bella hesitated, "Chase Reese." I felt Alice's hold on me tighten and my pain took over again. Esme and Carlisle began asking questions about Chase and what he was to me. Esme joined the crowd around me trying to calm me down. Josephine started singing our song and Jasper was doing his "mood control". My sobs stopped. Alice wouldn't release me from her hold until she was sure I wouldn't collapse again.

It's been a week since the incident. There were no signs of Marlo's army. Edward asked Jacob and his pack to be on the lookout for any foreign vampire scent. Life went on as usual, for us. Humans were running around frantic looking for _him_. His parents said that he was supposed to be running and should have been home at 9:30. I wanted to stay home for the rest of the year. Alice convinced me to go to school. "'It would be suspicious if you disappeared along with Chase.'" she said the morning after he died. I had refused to leave my room for anything.

Now, here we were. Sitting at our regular lunch table like nothing ever happened. I suppressed the memory as far as it would go. Everything was back to normal. Once in a while someone would ask me if I was okay. I was. It sucked when they reminded me about it by asking so they stopped. The only thing I was worried about was why Bridget was in the forest that night. Edward's theory was that she was probably looking for us, but hadn't found us yet. Her being in the same place as us that night was probably mere coincidence.

"What are you guy doing this weekend?" Lynn asked breaking through my concentration.

"Alice wants to do more shopping," answered Josephine.

"Ugh," Bella groaned.

"Just for that I'm making you come too," Alice said.

Bella's horrified expression made everyone laugh. She hated shopping as much as I did. "Really though, I don't think I want to shop this weekend," Alice said. "I think we should go camping. Lynn do you want to tag along?" She grinned. Lynn was a little shocked. We hadn't asked her to do anything with us yet. We didn't want to drag her into our problems.

"Sure. Where are you guys camping at?" she asked a bit red in the cheeks.

"Lake Ozette."

"Yes! I hope you guys know how to swim," Emmett said with an evil glint in his eyes. "Don't even think about it," Edward snapped. Emmett just laughed.

_Bring bring brrrrrrring!_

"Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow," Lynn said as she got up. After she left Bella asked, "What was Emmett thinking about?" We all knew it wasn't pleasant. "He was thinking of taking Lynn to the little island in the middle of the lake. Then he wanted to put fake shark fin on his back and chase her every time she tried to swim back," Edward said.

"That's so mean Emmett," Bella exclaimed.

"It would have been funny though," he said clearly disappointed. We all got up, threw our untouched food in the trash, and headed to our classes. I had Modern History this period. Mr. Evans just gives us random work so he doesn't have to talk to us that much. I was always the first one to finish my work. Sometimes I fell asleep in his class, others I would listen to people gossiping. They didn't know I could hear them so I heard almost everything. Most of it was boring. When the bell rang I rushed to my favorite class. Japanese.

It was my favorite because I was actually learning something. I could only speak English,Latin, and Chinese. Edward was pretty good at speaking Japanese already. He helped me out a lot. I was glad he was in this class. If he wasn't I'd have to be paired with one of these ignorant humans for our dialogue tests.

School ended quickly. Nessie greeted us when we entered the house. She and Esme were coloring in the living room. Nessie was about the size of a five year old now. Esme was home schooling her until the second semester started. Then, Nessie would attend kindergarten for the rest of the school year. She was a lot brighter than a normal kindergarten student, but she needed to blend in if she wanted to go to school.

"How was school?" Esme asked as we filed into the living room. "Fine," everyone answered. Emmett, Rose, and Jasper flopped onto the couch. I went to lie down next to Nessie so I could draw with her. Edward sat on the armchair with Bella in his lap and Josephine was waiting by the window for Shane.

There was a knock on the front door. Bella went to open it. "Jake what happened?" Jacob came in carrying a body. It took us a second to realize it was Shane. "He passed in the woods outside of La Push. Seth found him," he said. He headed for the sofa. Rose, Emmett, and Jasper jumped out of the way. "He was a high fever." He set him down gently. Josephine sat on the floor next to him with a towel and cold water. Jacob looked at Edward and nodded. Edward took his cell phone out of his pocket and called someone.

Five minutes later Carlisle was home. He started checking Shane immediately. Carlisle took some blood samples and ran upstairs. He was gone for half an hour. We all sat silently waiting for him. When he came back downstairs I jumped.

"He'll be okay. Do you know anything about Shane's heritage Josephine?" he asked turning to look at her. "No," she said. "Well it seems that Shane has 24 chromosomes just like Jacob," he explained, "I'm not positive, but I think Shane might have some Quileutes blood in him.

"Which means that Shane is part of your pack," he said.


	6. Chapter 6

**I went completely ecstatic over my first review. Thank you so much da13real** **!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of it's characters. I only own my original characters.**

**Please review for me. [:**

* * *

We never got to go camping. Alice told Lynn we having a family emergency. Which we were. Shane's been living with Jacob in La Push. Josephine agreed to let him stay there at first because she knew he needed to be there right now. No one was prepared for him to imprint on _Leah Clearwater_.

Josephine has been threatening to tear Leah into a million pieces all weekend. I don't blame her. That's how I feel about Shane. If he comes within a mile of our house I try to kill him. Alice is the one that keeps me from killing him and breaking the treaty. She pins me to the wall until I calm down. Emmett is all for attacking Shane. Rose despises both Shane and Leah. Bella is undecided and Edward is on Josephine's side. Jasper can't stand having Josephine feel so broken and unhappy. Nessie still loves her wolves.

Leah was banned from the house. Mostly to keep her alive. Jacob kept trying to reason with us.

"It's not her fault. It's this whole imprinting thing," he said.

"Stop using imprinting as an excuse. What you don't have a brain?" Josephine snapped.

"He says he's really sorry and that he still loves you," Jacob ignoring her question.

"No one gives a damn!" she snarled and lunged for his throat. Jasper had her arms locked behind her back. Rose quickly picked Josephine up and took her to her room.

"You know I love you Jacob, but maybe it would be best if you leave," Bella whispered.

"I don't want to leave Nessie," he protested looking at Esme who had Nessie in her arms.

"This is only temporary. We have to get this under control first," Edward reassured him.

"I'll bring Nessie to visit La Push, don't worry," Bella said. I didn't want Nessie in La Push. Bella is her mother so I couldn't say anything. "Tell your sister to let it go," Jacob hissed at me. I snarled and stood up about to rip his throat out. Alice blocked my way, restraining me by the waist.

"Get out," Rose growled running back downstairs. Jacob glared at her as he backed out the door. Once Jacob had run far enough Alice let me go. I slumped onto the sofa and buried my face into a pillow. There was loud ragged breathing coming from upstairs. Josephine was crying again. Rose rushed back upstairs to comfort her.

I didn't like being around Josephine when she was upset. I never knew what to say. Someone sat next to me on the sofa. I looked up and it was Bella.

"Don't worry. He may have never been the right one for her anyway. There's someone out there that will sweep Josephine of her feet and she'll forget all about Shane," she said. If she thought that was helping it certainly was _not_.

"All this aside you still have to go school," Esme said to everyone.

"NO!" someone shouted upstairs. Rose must have told her that it's time for school. Everyone went about their business and got ready. We waited in the garage. I didn't think Rose would get Josephine to go to school. A few minutes later they came in. Whatever Rose did, she's a genius.

I sat with Josephine in the back of Rose's car. No one spoke until we were at school.

"I'm taking Josephine shopping after school. Can you guys make it home alright?" Rose asked Alice.

"We'll be fine," she replied smiling. Rose nodded and left the car with Josephine. They spent a lot of time together, but I didn't mind. She needed Rose right now. Alice and I got out of the car and saw Rose and Josephine in front of Building B glaring at someone. We turned to see who it was. Shane, Leah, Jacob, and Seth were on the side walk. The next thing I knew Josephine was lunging at Leah. She knocked Leah to the ground. Rose pulled her off Leah and pushed her behind her back before any of them could react. We rushed to help them. The others were right behind us. Rose was in a defensive crouch in front of Josephine, who was now glaring at Shane.

Leah got up a little dazed. Seth gasped when he looked at Leah. She had a giant gash on the right side of her face from where Josephine clawed her. It started next to her eye and stopped at her chin. The blood was soaking her t-shirt. Josephine was smirking when she noticed it.

"She broke the treaty!" Jacob bellowed.

"You shouldn't have come here Jake," Bella said shaking her head.

"We can go anywhere we like. She's broken the treaty. We demand retribution," he said through his teeth. "No she didn't. The mutt's mate is still alive and she didn't _bite_ anyone," Rose snapped. Edward and Bella rushed into the middle to prevent a war from erupting right then and there. "There are people watching right now. We can settle this later," Edward urged. Jacob growled before turning to leave. Shane looked at his old love sadly and unwillingly walked away.

After they were gone Emmett was giving Josephine bear hugs as congratulations for messing up Leah's face. "I didn't know you had it in you," he said ruffling her hair like a proud father. She made a face and asked Rose to fix her hair.

"Don't encourage her Em," Edward warned him. It didn't matter what anyone said. Josephine was in an extremely better mood than she had been since Shane's imprint. Rose and I were glad to see her back to normal. People were talking about the fight before school all day. A few glares from Alice and Rose, and they ran off in terror.

Alice and I squeezed into Emmett's car, so Rose and Josephine could go shopping. Bella had to sit on Edward so that we could fit. She didn't mind. I sat next to the window to get some air. When we got home there was the scent of wolves in the air. _Damn wolves, what are_ they _doing here?_ I thought. Apparently everyone was thinking the same thing. "Negotiating," Edward replied dashing into the house. We followed suit. Sam, Jacob, Shane, and Leah were standing in the living room with Carlisle, Esme, and Nessie.

A few low growls erupted from Leah. Alice had her cellphone out and spoke rapidly into it. She hung up and danced to the couch. I followed her glaring at Leah and Shane. Emmett, Jasper, and Edward stood behind behind us. Bella went to retrieve her daughter from Esme and stand with Edward. Jacob's eyes followed Nessie.

"Now that almost everyone is here, let's talk about what's going on," said Carlisle. "They are not here to take revenge, they are here to inform us." He turned to look at Jacob.

"Right..." Jacob mumbled, pulling his eyes away from Nessie. "We caught the scent of another vamp. We don't know if it's your ally or one of the bad ones, but we feel you should just give them what they want instead of endangering everyone." He glanced at Nessie, then glared at me briefly.

"What you're suggesting is that we just throw out two members of our family to protect others," Jasper said calmly, "that I'm afraid, is impossible."

"Your _family? _Aren't you just harboring the little brats until they feel like leaving," Jacob spat.

Alice snarled and Jasper placed his hand on her shoulder to restrain her.

"You know as well as we do that these girls are a part of family just like any one of us," Edward said. "If they go, we _all_ go."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

* * *

After being told off by our family, the wolves stocked off angrily. Rose and Josephine returned shortly afterwards. Josephine went straight to her room, obviously upset again.

"She's not happy that Shane was here," Rose explained to me.

I nodded, "She'll be okay."

Rose smiled at me and ran to Emmett. She put her arms around his waist and gave him a kiss. She wanted to know what happened.

"We should check out this new vampire," Edward said motioning for Jasper and Emmett to follow him out the door. Rose reluctantly let Emmett go. She sighed and went upstairs, she probably missed him.

"Harlan," Carlisle called to me. He handed me the envelope. "Can you give this to Josephine," he asked. It was the envelope from Shane. I shook my head and handed it back.

"Please," Esme said. How could I say no to Esme? I grabbed the envelope and walked upstairs. Josephine was locked in her room.

_Knock knock._

The door creaked as it opened.

"Hey," she said. Her room was _really_ neat. Creepy neat, even for me.

"How are you?" I asked trying to keep the conversation going.

"All right, I guess," she sighed. She jumped on her bed and patted the spot next to her. I slid onto her bed and she laid her head on my shoulder. She seemed relaxed. I thought this would be the best time to give her the envelope.

"So...I have this envelope for you, from _him_," I said slowly.

"I don't want it," she growled.

"You should at least read it," I told her, holding the envelope out in front of me.

"Ugh," she sat up and grabbed the letter, "can you read it and just let me hear it in your thoughts?"

"Okay," I opened the envelope and start reading.

"_'My love, I know how much you must hate me right now, but I just couldn't let things end this way. You must know how much I still love you. Even though I know we can't be together, I still want you in my life. Life without you, isn't a life at all. Please forgive me, I love you.'"_

He signed his name at the bottom. His handwriting was hideous. I folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. Josephine was quiet, staring out the window. She wasn't crying, but it looked like she wanted to. I waited patiently for her to break out of her trance.

* * *

Shane kept sending her letters, but she just threw them away. She stopped throwing fits and returned to a somewhat normal routine. Whenever she was in her room, there was always rock music playing so loud it shook the house. It was amazing no one in Forks heard her music. Esme was afraid it would shatter all her windows. We tried to keep her out of her room, so she wouldn't turn her music on.

"I think we should go on that camping trip this weekend," Alice suggested at lunch.

"That's sounds good," Lynn said enthusiastically. I forgot about the camping trip. Suddenly I had the urge to run and hide.

"Do _I_ have to go?" I asked.

Alice threw me a "duh" kind of look, "Of course you do, silly."

I sighed in defeat. "We'll share a tent," Josephine said smiling at me. The only thing I was looking forward to was spending time with Josephine.

_Thanks._

"No problem," she whispered to me.

_How are you feeling?_

"I'm okay, sort of," her voice was so low that human ears would never have heard it.

_We'll talk later? _She nodded and returned to the conversation at hand. Alice was going through a list of supplies we'd need. Great. Another shopping trip. Bella said she would leave Nessie with Esme.

"Rose, let's go buy everything after school. The twins can go home with Emmett," Alice said.

"Okay. I need new boots," she replied looking at the boots she had just bought yesterday.

After school we invited Lynn to sleepover Friday night, so we wouldn't have to pick her up. She was excited about finally meeting our "parents".

* * *

**Lynn's POV:**

I could barely sleep. Tomorrow I would finally meet Dr. and Mrs. Cullen. My friends, the Cullen kids, invited me on a camping trip this weekend. My mom was glad I was actually going out. I didn't really like going out. For some reason being around other kids my age didn't seem very "fun". The Cullens were different. They seemed so mature for their age. Well, all of them except Emmett, but I didn't mind him much. He was fun to be around.

The alarm went off and I jumped out of bed. I took a cold shower to wake myself up. After I was finished getting ready for school, I packed my things for the sleepover and camping trip. I set everything by the door so I wouldn't forget them. My mom was in the kitchen making breakfast. I sat down at the table and ate a few pancakes and some eggs.

"Don't eat so fast, you'll get a stomach ache," my mom warned. I slowed down a bit to make her happy. She handed me a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice and I gulped it down.

"Done," I said. I grabbed her keys and ran to put everything in the trunk of her car. She came outside just as I finished stuffing my tent into the backseat. I gave her the keys and slid into the passenger's side.

"Don't give Dr. and Mrs. Cullen any trouble," she lectured as she drove me to school. When we got into the school parking lot the Cullens were standing next to their cars. I kissed my mom good-bye and I told her I'd see her Sunday night. Emmett and Jasper met me outside the car door and helped me unload my bags. They took it to Emmett's jeep and piled it in.

"That's all your bringing?" Alice asked. _Was I supposed to bring more?_

Edward laughed, "She's not _you,_ Alice."

Bella and Rose giggled.

_Bring bring._

"We should all meet back here at 3:30 _sharp_," Alice told us. Everyone nodded and walked to class.

* * *

I rushed out of Biology and hurried to the parking lot. The Cullens were already assembled there waiting for me. They were trying to decide who's car I would ride in. I suppose Josephine won because she dragged me to Rose's BMW Z3. The ride to the Cullen's home was nerve wrecking.

"Wow," was all I could say when I saw their house.

"What do you think?" Rose asked.

"It's amazing. My house is probably the size of your living room," I admitted.

"Maybe," Alice laughed, "we do have a _big_ family." I nodded. Their family really was big. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen had adopted or were foster parents to all these kids. My heart was racing when I reached the front door. Rose opened it and I walked in. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen were standing in the living room.

* * *

**Review please. =D**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

* * *

**Harlan's POV:**

Lynn was so scared when we got home. She couldn't stop herself from stuttering when she introduced herself. Carlisle and Esme told her that she didn't have to call them Dr. or Mrs. Cullen. It slipped every now and then. It was hard to make sure Emmett didn't do or say anything stupid in front of Lynn.

"Do you think Lynn would be a good v-" Rose smacked on the side of the head.

"What?" he asked trying to sound innocent.

"Stop being an idiot," Edward said. Lynn laughed even though she didn't understand what was going on. Alice wanted to play "make-up artist". She had Lynn in her bathroom for almost two hours. Josephine and I decided to save her. We had Emmett cover himself in mud and walk into Alice's closet. He agreed cheerfully. While Alice was freaking out, we went in and grabbed Lynn. We took her downstairs where everyone else was laughing at Alice's dismay.

"Thanks," she said wiping the make-up off her face.

"No problem," I winked and jumped on the couch. There were blankets and pillows all over the living room floor. All the girls were sleeping in the living room. At least they were going to pretend to sleep, since Nessie, Josephine, and I were the only ones who actually slept. We played board games like _Monopoly_, _Chess_, and _Candyland_, for Nessie.

Nessie and Lynn were the first to fall asleep. We fell asleep at around two in the morning

* * *

Alice was shaking me awake in the morning. I sat up and looked around. She was waking up Josephine and Lynn.

"Get up! We have to go in thirty minutes," she ordered. We sighed and got up. There were at least six bathrooms in the house, so we could shower at the same time. After we were dressed, Alice made Lynn breakfast. She told Lynn everyone else already ate so she wouldn't ask questions. We had to eat some of the human food because we woke up late.

"I'm not that hungry," I said after a couple bites.

"I'm done," Josephine said. I can't believe she actually ate it.

"Me too," Lynn said getting up to wash her dish.

"Go ahead and leave it there, dear," Esme said walking in the kitchen, "have fun camping." She hugged us good-bye before turning to wash the dishes. We rushed, at human speed, to the garage. They were loading all of the equipment into Emmett's jeep. Three cars were required for this trip. No one could fit into Emmett's jeep, except Emmett.

Rose, Alice, Josephine, Lynn, and I took Rose's BMW. Edward, Bella, and Jasper took Edward's Volvo. It took an hour to reach the lake. We parked the cars under trees near the edge of the lake. The lake was huge. I could see the mini islands in the middle. Hopefully Emmett wasn't going to take Lynn there.

"Harlan, come help me," Josephine called. I went to see what she needed. She was standing next to a pile of fabric and long poles. Oh, the tent. We've never put up a tent before. I picked up the instructions and read through them. We got the tent up in no time.

"It's hot!" Lynn exclaimed, "who wants to go swimming?"

"That's a great idea. Come on Jasper," Alice squealed pulling Jasper over to the car to get the swim suits. Josephine and I changed into our bikinis Alice bought in the tent. They were both green. The only difference was that mine had stars and Josephine had hearts. She didn't like the hearts so we switched. We exited the tent slowly. It felt weird to have a bikini on.

"Whoa," someone said. We looked around. It was Jacob. Josephine growled a little.

"Hey," he said backing away, "it's just me." I took a deep breathe and there were no other wolf scents in this area. Josephine relaxed. He grinned pointing at us, "Not half bad." We flushed bright red. Emmett was laughing at us. I picked up a smooth rock a lodged it at his head, when Lynn wasn't looking. He dodged it and it landed in the lake. Emmett was the first to jump in the lake. He splashed Rose and got her hair wet. She tackled him and they were play fighting in the water. Lynn was check the water temperature with her toes. Emmett snuck up behind her and pushed her in.

"Ergh," she spat water out of her mouth. She and Rose teamed up against Emmett. Of course, he had to act like they were winning. Josephine and I waded in the water. It was freezing. Bella did a cannonball dive into the water, soaking us completely. Edward followed her in, along with Alice, Jasper, and Jacob. There was a lot of splashing and tackling. It was like water football.

The sun started to set and we got out of the water. Edward started a campfire to warm us up. We changed into sweat shirts and sweat pants. Alice wanted us to wear the clothes she bought, but we told her we didn't want to get them dirty. Edward chuckled when he heard our real thoughts.

We all sat by the campfire making s'mores. Alice thought it would be a good human tradition to try. Everyone pretended to enjoy their s'mores for Lynn's sake. Emmett wanted to sing campfire songs. The only one that sang along with him was Jacob.

"_The ants go marching one by one, hurrah hurrah_

_The ants go marching one by one, hurrah hurrah_

_The ants go marching one by one_

_The little one stops to suck his thumb_

_And the all go marching down to the ground_

_To get out of the rain, BOOM BOOM BOOM!"_

He sang until he reached negative one hundred and twenty three. By then Lynn had fallen asleep and Jasper had to carry her to her tent. Edward, Bella, and Rose decided to go hunting while Lynn was asleep. We were too tired to hunt so we to sleep in our tent.

* * *

It was surprisingly hot the next morning. We rummaged for some clothes in our bags. Alice came in our tent with shorts and tank tops. She grinned as she left. I picked up a pair of shorts and they were _short_. I couldn't believe Alice wanted us to wear these. We unwillingly put them on. There nothing else to wear. She probably snuck in last night and took all our clothes. The shorts _barely_ covered us. The tank tops were white with lace lining.

When we opened the mouth of the tent the sun blinded us. I blinked a few times before I could see. We stepped out and the sun felt wonderful on my skin. Bella and Edward were sitting with their legs in the lake. Emmett and Rose were sitting in their tent, doing who knows what. Jasper, Alice, and Lynn were by the place where the fire used to be. Jacob was napping under the shade of a tree.

"Hey," Lynn greeted us as we came out of the tent.

"Morning," Josephine said.

"G' morning," I yawned.

"What are you _wearing_?" Jacob asked.

"Ask _Alice_," I snapped. Alice started giggling. I felt myself turning red. Josephine poked my side and smiled at me. If she was fine with it, I guess I was too.

"You don't look _that_ bad," he joked.

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes and towed Josephine toward the lake.

"It's nice to get away from everything," Josephine sighed. She lowered herself into the water, half her body submerged.

"Yeah," I said sitting next to her, "we should do this more often." I leaned back onto the soft sand. I never wanted to leave this place, but we'd have to go home tonight. Lynn's mom wouldn't like for us to keep her longer than we said we would. Suddenly the wind blew in the opposite direction and I caught the scent of _one of them_. Josephine and I jumped up. Everyone else had already frozen in place. I looked around for Lynn, but she was no where to be found. Edward looked at me and understood. He took off in a run to find her.

There was screaming coming from the woods behind us. Seconds later, Edward was back cradling Lynn in his arms. It looked like she was unconscious. He set her down in her tent.

"Something scared her and she slipped. She hit her head pretty hard on the root of a tree," he said, "I think she'll be fine." He must have noticed the look on my face.

"It must have been _them_," I growled.

"Them?" Bella asked.

Before I could answer three figures emerged from the woods. The one on the right had olive toned skin, short dark curls, and crimson red eyes. The one on the left had pale skin, light brown spiky hair, and eyes black as coal. Finally, the middle one had sleek silver hair that reached his shoulders, hazy red eyes, and pale brown skin.

"I've been looking for you," the middle one said calmly.

"Who are you?" Alice asked.

"Marlo," Edward answered her. I felt an involuntary snarl erupt from my chest. Jacob must have phased when we weren't looking because a giant russet wolf joined us.

"A mind-reader. Intriguing," he said to himself.

Edward's face showed no emotion. Bella was holding on to his arm just in case.

"Yes, I am Marlo," he confirmed, "these are Tristan and Aaron."

On his left, Tristan growled. Marlo held up his hand and he was silent. He took a step closer and we all backed up. Jacob took position in front of Lynn's tent.

"You probably know why I'm here," he said nodding in our direction, "I just want my daughters and I will leave in peace."

_Be careful. Tristan can't do much, but Aaron can screech and knock anyone out within three miles._

"I believe it's up to them whether they want to join you or not," Edward stated calmly. Marlo's eyes narrowed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own my original characters ONLY.**

**Enjoy.**

**Please review!**

* * *

This was the confrontation I was afraid of. Our new family would get hurt because of us. We couldn't allow that to happen. Marlo was preparing to have Aaron knock everyone out.

"We'll go with you!" I blurted out. Everyone looked at me, shocked.

"Yes, leave the Cullens alone and we'll go with you," Josephine pleaded. No one said anything. The look from the Cullens put a giant ball in my stomach. It was time that we stopped running. I took Josephine's hand and we walked forward to accept our fate. In the blink of an eye Edward was on Aaron's back.

_Crack_.

His head detached from his body. Emmett and Jasper had Tristan pinned to the ground. Alice, Rose, and Bella blocked the distance between us and Marlo. Edward tearing Aaron limb from limb. He started a fire and threw the pieces of Aaron into the wild flames. It was silent except for Tristan's screams for Marlo's help.

Marlo showed no emotion toward his _slave_.

"We won't let them doom themselves just for us," Alice snarled.

"Al-" I started.

"No," Rose whispered. I couldn't believe it. _Why were they doing this? Didn't they realize this was the only way?_

Suddenly vines whipped out from the trees. It bound itself around Emmett's waist and hoisted him into the air. It began slamming him against the trees. A young girl walked out from the shadow of the trees.

She looked like she could be fifteen or sixteen years old. Her long black hair swayed at her hips. There was the most frightening evil grin across her face.

"Ah, Eva," Marlo muttered.

"Master," she said bowing. Emmett was still being thrown around in the trees. She glanced up and Emmett fell with a shattering bang. Rose rushed to his side. Eva was giggling like a joyful child. She made me sick.

The vines danced around Eva like snakes.

"This is Eva," Marlo said seeming a little more secure. We snarled and growled. Jacob was pulling Lynn's tent behind us. Poor Lynn. Rose was back with Emmett in her arms. She set him down and he stood straight up.

"Babe, I told you I'm fine," Emmett complained.

"Now," Marlo began, "let us continue with our conversation."

"They will _not _be joining you," Alice growled, "especially if it's only to protect _us_."

A crease was forming between Marlo's eyebrows. He must have been thinking of a new strategy. Even with Eva, he could never over take the Cullens right now.

"I will leave you be, for now," Marlo said, "I _will_ be back."

"And we will be waiting," Edward hissed. They began to back away. I heard something moving behind me. We all glanced behind us. Lynn. She had woken up and tried to leave the tent. Her scent was in the air. We saw Eva take in a deep breathe. Her eyes looked like two black holes sucking in all the light it could touch.

There was a soft rustling coming from every direction. Lynn shrieked. We didn't even have time to react. Eva had her vines around Lynn and pulled her to their side.

"Lunch," Eva hissed happily at her. Lynn tried to scream, but a vine covered her mouth. I tried to lunge at Eva, Jasper leaped off Tristan and had me in a restraining choke hold before I could. He didn't put much force into it, but he used enough strength to keep me in place.

"Release her!" Josephine screamed.

"You refuse to join me today, so I will take this human as an...exchange," Marlo mused. Edward couldn't stop Bella in time to keep her from attacking Eva. Bella had Eva by the neck. She snapped Eva's neck and broke her legs. Eva's vines died and Lynn fell to the ground unconscious. Tristan must have realized Bella was the one that killed his mate, Bridget. He lunged for Bella and knocked her to the ground.

Edward took him out in a matter of seconds. Rose and Alice were finishing off Eva. Emmett scooped Lynn up and ran her to the car. He raced the car to our location to pick us up. We all got in except for Edward and Bella. They went after Marlo, who disappeared after Eva was attacked. The area was covered in thick purple smoke.

It looked like Lynn had broken her arms and legs. She groaned in pain a few times. Other than that, she was unconscious. We trip to the hospital was faster, than the trip to the lake. Jasper phoned Carlisle on the way. He was waiting for us. She was rushed to the Emergency Room. We waited in the lobby, for what seemed like hours. Lynn's mother had arrived fifteen minutes after us. She was told that Lynn was hiking, when she slipped down a muddy path.

After a long examination, Carlisle returned.

"She is doing okay now. Her legs are broken, along with her right arm," he explained.

"Thank you so much," Lynn's mom sobbed.

"We're sorry about what happened to Lynn," Josephine apologized.

"It wasn't your fault. It was an accident," she replied giving Josephine a hug.

"Not to worry. She'll be just fine," Carlisle gave her a reassuring smile.

"When can I go see her?" Lynn's mom asked.

"Soon, she's getting her caste put on. Once they're done, a nurse will come get you."

She nodded and left the lobby to use the phone. At the same time Edward and Bella arrived. I was relieved to hear that Lynn would be okay. I can't believe we put her in danger like that. I made mental note to myself, that I would never do that to anyone ever again.

"It's not your fault," Edward answered my thoughts, "No one knew he would be there."

"I can't believe I didn't see it coming," Alice said with her face in her hands. Jasper put his arm around her and started trying to comfort her.

"No one is blaming you Alice," Bella assured her.

"What happened to Marlo?" Emmett asked.

"He got away," she answered.

* * *

We returned to school the next day. Edward was reading Lynn's mind all day.

"She doesn't remember what happened," he said. That was good, for us. I felt so bad for Lynn. I followed her around and carried her books. Josephine carried her lunch. Even with a broken arm and legs, she was still as cheerful as ever.

"I can't really remember much, but I do remember having a great time," she told us.

"That's good," Bella said.

"Thanks for letting me tag a long," she smiled at us.

"No problem," Alice chimed.

The bell rang for fifth period. Lynn and Josephine left for class. My throat was burning. I couldn't remember the last time I hunted. I've been eating human food. It tastes nasty, but it sustains be longer than I thought it would.

"Can I go home?" I asked everyone.

"Why?" Alice and Bella asked. I put my hand on my throat and they understood.

"I'll go with you," Rose said. We got up to leave. Madison was walking by and bumped me in the shoulder again. She looked at me over her shoulder.

"Freak," she laughed.

"Bitch," I said loud enough for everyone to hear. She glared at me and walked away. I'm usually the one that hates profanity, but I couldn't help myself. Emmett was such a influence. I could hear him snickering behind me. Rose grinned at me and lead the way to the parking lot.

* * *

**AN: I didn't feel like skipping a whole bunch of months to wait for Lynn to heal. Sorry. =P**

* * *

Lynn "miraculously" healed in one month. Carlisle made gave her medication that he'd made himself. Because of this, Josephine and Lynn have a dates tonight. I can't believe it. After everything that happened, she's going on a date. He's human too. What she sees in human boys I'll never know. She said they're "popular" boys. I understand Lynn dating, but Josephine? I think their names were Cody-Landon Travis and Calvin Peters.

"Their really nice boys," Josephine said while Rose was doing her hair. Lynn was getting her make-up done by Alice. They were double dating and Emmett was being forced to be their chaperon. It's supposed to be his punishment for getting mud all over Alice's closet.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Twilight. I own the ORIGINAL characters ONLY.**

**Please enjoy and review. =D**

* * *

Josephine and Cody have been "official" for two weeks. In her words, "'Our date was _totally_ awesome'". Lynn was still dating Calvin, but they weren't "official" yet. Girls at school hated Josephine and Lynn. They were jealous because Lynn and Josephine were dating the 'two most handsome boys in school', as some referred to them.

They weren't extremely attractive to me. _Human_ beauty _had_ it's limits, after all. Cody was six feet tall, spiky blond hair, he had muscular body, and an amazing smile. Calvin had olive toned skin, his head was shaved, but not complete bald, he was tall and muscular just like Cody, and he knew how to sweep a girl of her feet.

Cody and Josephine were an "item" before they even came back from their date. Apparently they were madly in love. At least that's what she says. Every time she talked about how she wanted to be with Cody "forever", I would laugh until I collapsed.

"Shut up," she scowled at me.

"It's not my fault you're being absurd," I chuckled.

"You should wait a little longer before declaring your love," Nessie giggled.

"Humph," she stocked off. Nessie and I burst into fits of laughter. Josephine wasn't really mad. She knew we were just joking. It was fun to aggravate her either way. Just then Alice ran into the room towing Josephine along with her.

"Harlan," she said sounding out of breathe.

"W-" I started.

"Something happened you have to hurry," she ran out the front door. Josephine and I exchanged a glance and followed with Nessie behind us. Everyone was standing together in front of a giant object covered by a thick sheet.

"What's going on here?" I asked impatiently putting my hands on my hips.

"Well, Josephine mentioned to Rose that it's your birthday today," Alice chirped. I had completely forgotten about our birthday.

"So," Bella began.

"We got you this!" They said in unison. Edward snatched the cloth. As it fell I saw a beautiful green car. I felt my mouth hanging open. Josephine looked at me and squealed. We jumped on our amazing family and hugged everyone.

"It's a _BMW_ _M3 GT4_," Edward stated proudly. I was still in awe. I couldn't believe they bought us a _car._

"I had it custom painted to match your eyes," Alice added. I gave her the strongest hug I could muster.

"Thank you so much," Josephine said through her tears, in a small voice.

"Yes, thank you!" I bellowed, hugging Carlisle and Esme one more time.

"Here you go," Jasper said. He handed us two little envelopes. I opened it and inside was a driver's license! I freaked. No words could escape my mouth. We both bear hugged him before running to look at our new car. Our car. This was the best birthday I'd ever had. Probably Josephine too.

* * *

We had to practice driving in Edward's Volvo before we were allowed to drive the M3. It was pretty easy. Today would be our first day driving in the M3. They were going to let us drive to school by ourselves. I would drive _to_ school and Josephine would drive home _from_ school.

"Are you ready?" I asked Josephine as she got in the car.

"Pretty much," she said cheerfully. We waved good-bye to our family and I backed out of the garage. We would be leaving for school first. I don't like to drive too fast.

By the time we reached the school parking lot the others were already behind me. Emmett kept honking and screaming 'You drive like a human!'. I could see Rose glare at him in my rear view mirror. As I turned into the lot, students were staring and pointing. I parked the car and waited for the others to park around us. We got out and joined our family walking to class. Lynn caught up to us in awe like everyone else.

"Oh. My. Gosh! Where did you guys get that car?" she asked.

"Our family bought it for our birthday last Friday," I said.

"It was your birthday?! You didn't tell me that!" she looked at Josephine accusingly. Josephine looked away, blushing with guilt.

"Sorry it slipped _my mind_," I apologized laughing.

"I'll have to by you a late birthday present. What do you guys like? Obviously you like green..." her voice trailed off.

I don't know how it happened, but I felt my heart stop. There was the most amazing scent in the air. It smelt like a mix of hundreds of scented herbs. The scent was burning a hole in my throat. I took a deep breathe and swirled around looking for the creature that was emanating this beautiful smell. I lost myself completely, only caring about my unbearable thirst.

There he was, leaning against the lockers by my Biology class. I'd never smelt anything so wonderful, even for a human. His face was unfamiliar, he had his black hair slicked back, and his complexion was light brown. His neck was so warm and inviting. I wanted to drink. I wanted to quench my thirst. However, I knew I shouldn't, but it didn't stop me from edging closer to him. It didn't stop me from breathing in his rich aroma. It certainly didn't stop me from lunging for his throat.

Edward pulled me into a head lock the moment he heard my thoughts. I tried to break free, but couldn't. They pulled me out side and into Emmett's jeep. Soon, I blacked out from lack of air.

* * *

When I woke up I was on my bed. Alice, Josephine, Rose, Bella, and Esme were standing around me.

"What happened?" I asked a little groggy.

"You tried to attack a human," Rose said.

"Really?"

"Yes, Edward had to restrain you and accidentally knocked you out," Bella muttered. She was looking at me like she wanted to apologize.

"Who was it?"

"A new student. What was his name?" Rose asked looking at Alice.

"Julian Gray," Alice replied.

Julian. I couldn't stop thinking about how I almost killed him. Edward and Jasper entered the room and I sat up.

"Thanks," I whispered.

"Anytime, but I'm sorry I knocked you out though," he said sincerely.

"It's okay. As long as I didn't attack Julian," I assured him.

"I still can't believe you found your singer," he chuckled.

"Her what?" Josephine asked.

"Her singer," Bella answered, "It's when a certain humans blood smells extraordinarily strong to you and you can't resist. Like I was to Edward." I remember the stories that they had told us about Bella when she was human and why Edward was so drawn to her at first. They also told us that he resisted from drinking her blood because he fell in love with her. Would that happen to me?

"My singer," I muttered to myself, but I knew they all heard it.

"It might happen and it might not," Edward said. Everyone had a confused look on their face.

"Is she up yet?" Emmett bellowed as he entered the room, "finally!"

"What?" I asked.

"I wanted to show you the birthday present I made for you and Josephine," he grinned.

Josephine was shaking her head and laughing at the same time. Emmett held out a piece of construction paper. It had stars and hearts made out of macaroni glued onto the front. The bottom read, "To my little sister, I get to punch you 11 times."

"I got Josephine already. It's your turn," he snickered.

Everyone was laughing at my horrified face.

"Sike!" Emmett yelled and ran out of the room before Rose could hit him. I laughed at Emmett and got out of bed. Josephine stepped aside so I could go into the closet. After I grabbed some clothes and a clean towel, I made my way to the bathroom. The water was extra cold. It woke me up, that's for sure. I dried off, brushed my hair, put on my clothes, and headed downstairs.

Everyone was already in the living room. I dropped myself onto the floor next to Nessie, who was drawing stick figure pictures of the family. She smiled at me and continued her drawing. Nessie was about the size of an eight year old now. Esme had to pull her out of school because she was growing too fast.

"Do you like it?" she asked me.

"I _love_ it," I said. She grinned and handed me the picture.

"You can have it," she told me.

"Thank you so much Nessie," I chimed, "It's way better than Emmett's macaroni picture." We both laughed and Emmett grimaced. He couldn't say anything because Rose was going to smack him.

Josephine and I decided to go hunting. Edward said if I hunted before seeing Julian again, I won't be as tempted to attack him. We set off into the woods. Before we could get far we ran into Cody, who was fishing at the river near by the house. He and Josephine were busy talking so I waited on a rock by the river. In the woods across river I saw the outline of another person. The wind shifted and I took in the scent. _Another_ vampire. When were these people going to leave us alone?

They walked into the sun. It was a woman. I didn't recognize her. She was thirsty. I saw her eyeing Cody and Josephine. _Edward!_ I screamed in my head, hoping he would hear it. Josephine caught the scent and whirled around to look at this new vampire.

"Hello," she said quietly.

"Who are you?" Josephine asked. She didn't reply. A smirk flashed across her face. That's when it happened. She lunged for Cody. Josephine jumped and blocked her way. The woman vampire threw Josephine aside. I lunged for the woman's throat. She easily over-powered me and tossed me into the river. There were painful screams, then silence. I got up and saw Cody's body lying under a tree.

"No," Josephine mumbled. She stumbled into a standing position. I ran to help her. She pushed me away and fell to her knees. I didn't know what to do. The female vampire returned. This time she was looking at _me_. Frightened, I tried to drag Josephine away. It was a weak attempt. She bared her teeth and lunged. Josephine knocked me out of the way. In doing so, she was caught by this she-devil.

The hag sunk her teeth into Josephine's neck. Josephine yelped in pain. I tackled the woman and she dropped her. I glanced at Josephine and she writhing in pain. The vampire took this chance to slam me into a tree. Everything started to blur. Before I blacked out I saw the Cullens tearing this mystery woman apart.


	11. Chapter 11

**This chapter is a lot shorter than the others. =P**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Twilight. I own my original characters ONLY.**

* * *

There was an odd buzzing sound all around me. It grew louder and louder. Finally, I realized that it was talking. Where was I?

"You know, she blacks out an awful lot." I heard Emmett say. There was a loud smack. Someone must have hit him, again.

"What are we going to do?" Alice asked, I think.

"I don't know," Edward replied, "We'll deal with it when she wakes up." Deal with what? What's going on?

"She'll be up soon," he said. Oh, he must have heard me. I guessed I should open my eyes. No need to worry anyone. My eyes opened at an impossibly slow rate. The light made them flutter. After looking around I saw Bella, Edward, Alice, Jasper, Rose, and Emmett.

"Your okay!" Alice yelled squeezing me tightly, "I hate not being able to see your future." She was dry sobbing.

"Where's Josephine?" I asked at once. They glanced at each other. No one answered my question. They wouldn't even look at me.

"Where is she?!" I demanded. They were probably hiding her to scare me. I jumped out of bed and ran into her room. Not there. I darted for the living room. It was only Esme, Carlisle, and Nessie.

"Josephine?" I yelled, "Josephine?!" I felt someone grab me by the waist. It was Alice. The others were standing around. The looks they gave me told me I wouldn't find Josephine in the house. Where was she then?

"Listen to me," Edward ordered, "Josephine is...she's...Josephine was killed by the vampire at the river."

I stared at him. Why was he lying to me? What kind of sick joke was this?

"It's not a joke," he said. No one was laughing. How could this not be a joke?

"Your lying," I muttered, "stop lying!" I ran straight out the back door. There was no one behind me. Thankfully they let me go. I didn't realize where I was, until reached the clearing in the woods by the river. I slumped onto the nearest boulder and cried. I was there, crying until the sun was gone and the moon was shining on me. The moon felt like it was burning me. Accusing me of letting my sister die.

_Josephine._ I thought. Then that amazing scent startled me and I fell off of the boulder. There was a loud rustling coming from the bushes to my right. I crouched, ready to defend myself. "Who's there?"

"It's me," a voice called. He walked a little closer. Julian. Of course it was Julian. Who else could smell so invigorating? He stepped out from under trees into the light of the moon. I never realized how handsome Julian was. Especially in the moonlight. I only saw him once, when I was about to attack him.

"What are _you_ doing here?" I snapped.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said. I took in a deep breathe. The scent was just as strong as it was before, but this time I didn't feel like I had it in me to attack him. Josephine was all I could think about. I slid down the side of the boulder onto the cold ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked moving toward me. I gave him a warning glance and he backed up.

"What do you want?" I scowled.

"I was going on a late night stroll to think about why you tried to attack," he admitted sitting next to me. He was _laughing_ about it. If only he knew that I would have _killed_ him.

"About that, I'm so-"

"Don't worry about it," he cut me off. I bit my lip. He smiled at me. There was a strange flutter in my stomach. I haven't felt like this since I met Chase. Chase. I let out a deep sigh. Everyone I loved or cared about was disappearing. Julian reached out to put his arm around my shoulder. Normally I would object, but I let it go this time. I wasn't in the the mood to yell at anyone.

"So what are you doing out here?" he asked.

"I needed to be alone," I mumbled.

"I'm sorry for just barging in on you," he really sounded sorry.

"It's okay. I was getting lonely," I assured him. I leaned back to stare at the moon, but I could barely see it. The sun was coming up, setting the moon ablaze and burning it away. My thoughts lingered for a moment on how Bella has said 'Jacob was my sun'. Was Julian _my_ sun?

"Do you mind if I ask _why_ you wanted to be alone?" he asked curiously breaking through my thoughts.

"No, that's fine." I felt the pain rush back into my body.

"My sister..." I started holding back tears, "died...today." I looked at the ground so that he wouldn't see my face.

"Harlan, I'm sorry," he comforted me, "how did it happen?"

"She was attacked," was all I could muster between breaths. He didn't ask me more. I felt him wrap his other arm around me. Julian pulled me in close and laid his cheek on the top of my head. He caressed my hair. My breathing calmed and I pulled away slightly. I saw the worried expression in his face.

"I'm sorry, it's just...we barely met and all," I explained.

"Yeah, but it feels like I've known you my whole life or I should have known you," he muttered the last part.

I heard a light distinct rustle in the bushes in front of us. It was too light for Julian to hear. _Alice? _I thought. It smelled like Alice. Suddenly I was aware off Julian's face getting closer to mine. I guess he thought he was being subtle about it. What was he doing? Just as his face was about an inch away from mine, she jumped out. Julian and I jumped.

"We've been _so_ worried about you, Harlan," she lied winking at me.

"Sure, Alice," I giggled. Julian pulled away blushing slightly. He looked a bit disappointed. I couldn't help it. His face was so cute I had to laugh, again.

"Did you find her Alice?," Edward called emerging from the woods. I shook my head.

"Next you'll tell me the _whole_ family is here," I complained. Sure enough, everyone showed up. Julian and I stood up.

"I think I should go home now," Julian whispered a little embarrassed.

"Okay, I'll see you later?" I asked. He blushed again.

"Yeah, sure," he smiled and walked back the way he came. Alice grabbed my hand and pulled in the direction of home. She started running, but not too fast because she was still holding onto my hand. I didn't want to go home. I never wanted to go back. Josephine was gone. What reason did I have for going back?

"Nessie wouldn't like it if you left without telling her," Edward whispered from some where behind me. I sighed. He was right. I couldn't do that to Nessie, Alice, or anyone else for that matter. They are my family. Alice picked me up so she could run faster. I didn't protest.

We reached the house to see Esme and Nessie waiting by the door. Alice set me down in front of the steps and I saw her.

* * *

**Please review. =D**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Here's chapter 12! I hope you guys enjoy it. I'd really like more reviews though. :/**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

* * *

I was rooted to the ground. My brain was telling me to move, but my body wasn't listening. How is this possible? She's supposed to be dead. If she was alive this entire time, why did she not come for us? Why is she here now? I don't know what came over me. The only thing I felt was the urge to tear her apart and make her feel the pain we've been through. We. It was just _me_, now. No more _we_.

Tears burned my eyes and lunged. I put all the strength I had into it and collided with her. I sent her, head first, into the wall on the other side of the house. She landed with a thunderous bang. Before I could do any real damage, Alice and Rose had me pinned to the ground. Jasper knelt down next to me, "Calm down, Harlan."

_Let me go and I'll show you calm, alright._

Edward cleared his throat. _Shut up._ _Stupid stupid stupid! _That was all I could think. I struggled as hard as I could against their hold, but I knew I was beat. When I stopped struggling Jasper tried to calm me with his powers. They didn't work. Nothing was going to make me okay with this. As of then, I hated this woman.

"Do you think you could just be a little reasonable?" Edward asked blocking my view of that _woman_.

_Noooooooo!_ I screamed in my thoughts at the top of my imaginary lungs. Everyone flinched like someone was yelling directly into their ears.

"Before you pass judgment, listen to her story," Rose advised. I sighed deeply and nodded with frustration. They picked me up and sat me on the couch. Everyone else filed in, in an orderly manner. That _woman_ tried to sit next to me. I let out a menacing growl and she decided against it. Smart. Alice jabbed me with her elbow, telling me to behave. That _woman_ took her seat in the armchair across from the couch. Although I can't really remember this _woman_, I knew who she was. She looked just like Jenny Gale.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing she said.

"Humph." I crossed my arms and switched to looking at the floor.

"I know I have no right to be here, after all these years. Please believe me when I say that I _wanted_ to be with you. It's just...certain things at the time made it impossible," she explained, "I meant to come see you and Jo-"

"Don't you dare say her name!" I shrieked, "Get out! I hate you!" I stormed up to my room and slammed the door so hard it broke right of it's hinges and flew down the stairs.

"Whoa," Bella said dodging the door. I regretted doing that almost instantly. Now I had no door to lock people out with. I went into the closet instead and hid under a pile of clothes in the far corner.

"Harlan," Bella whispered.

"Go away," I muttered.

"Sweetie," Alice pleaded.

"No," I snapped. I couldn't tell if they left or not. There was no way I was going to move from where I was. I'd probably been sitting there for hours. I could feel myself dozing off. Part of me wanted to sleep. The other part didn't because I was afraid they'd take that chance to pull me out of the closet.

"You awake?" A voice called.

"Mm," I grunted.

"Focus," the voice demanded. Someone pulled the top half of the clothes off of me.

"Wha," I said half asleep.

"It's me Bella."

"Bell-"

"Yes, come on, get up." She pulled me into a standing position and helped me to my bed. After I was tucked in, she said, "Let her in."

The door creaked open and I saw Alice peering in. The door opened wider. Alice danced in followed by _that woman_ and Rose.

"We really think you should talk to her," Alice said.

"Please," Rose begged. Rosed never begged. She must really want me to do this.

"Fine," I agreed, my lips barely moving. Bella, Alice, and Rose moved to stand by the window. They wanted to stay close just in case I snapped again. A normal would have called me bi-polar. I smirked a little. I looked _her_. She was staring at me. I wanted to slap her. I wanted to throw her out of my room.

"Harlan?" she called snapping me out of my rage. I look at my hands so that I wouldn't have to look at her face.

"What."

"I want to apologize. I should have been there for you and your sister. After I gave birth to you, I was _supposed_ to die. Someone found me, a vampire to be exact. Alec, I believe his name was. At first, he was going to finish me off, but something changed his mind. I don't really know what. He decided to change me and spare my life, or somewhat of a life. The only thing he asked for in exchange was for me to be his slave. More like forced me to be his slave. Naturally, he asked Aro of the Volturi for permission. Aro agreed. I'd been serving Alec for the last eleven years, up until last week.

"He let me go. Just like that. I didn't ask questions. I just ran. After running and swimming until I was almost lost, I realized I had reached the east coast of America. That's when I set off in my search. I tracked you here. You can't imagine my surprise when I found out you had joined a coven or family I should say. Especially one of this size and diet. I was even more shocked to hear everything you had to go through. For you to lose..."

She stopped talking. Probably waiting for me to say something.

"Don't expect me to call you mommy," I said flatly. Alice squealed.

"Great, would you like to stay here or in a hotel?" she asked _that woman_.

"A hotel would be fine. I don't think here is a good place for me, right now," she replied. _You got that right._ I said to myself. She probably thought I was warming up to her or something because next she said, "We'll moving into a house, as soon as I find one."

"_We?!_ Don't you mean _you_," I snapped_. _Before she could respond, I bounded off the bed and had my arms around Alice's waist.

"You'll never take me away from _my family_," I whimpered. Tears flooded my eyes and Alice put her arms around my waist.

"We want Harlan to stay here," Alice said firmly. _That woman_ felt defeat. She nodded slowly and rose from the bed. I moved back so she could leave.

"I _will_ get my daughter back," she hissed angrily running out. I felt a shiver run up my spine. Rose and Bella put their arms around me and Alice. It was great to have such a wonderful family. I had such bad luck. Marlo and _that woman_ were both going to fight my family for me. Especially now that it's just _me_. I know they'd never let that happen.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

**This story is going to end soon because I'm not getting many review. - sigh -**

**I hope I get more reviews for this chapter though. Enjoy!**

_**Melinda**_

* * *

We have to go back to school today. It's been almost a week since I was at school. They made an excuse that I'd been ill. After school we were going to have a ceremony/funeral for Josephine. I've been trying not to think about it.

Rose came in and forced me out of bed this morning. When I refused she picked my mattress up and flipped me off the bed. It's a good thing I'm half vampire or I would broken a bone. They had me captive in the bathroom all morning.

"You'll be late!" Esme called from the kitchen. _Thank goodness_. Alice and Rose finished up and ran back to my room. They replaced my door only when I swore I would never break it again. I snatched my bag off my bed and threw my cellphone inside. Carlisle and Esme also bought me a cellphone. I guess they felt safer knowing I had a way to contact them.

"Come on, Harlan!" Bella yelled. I finished checking to make sure everything was in my bag and ran downstairs.

"Aw, don't you look so _pretty_!" Emmett squealed like a girl when I walked into the garage. I smacked him once before running to Rose's car. Hopefully today I don't attack Julian. Rose backed out of the garage and sped off toward school.

We reached school in twenty minutes. Rose seemed to be in a rush this morning.

"Are you in a hurry?" Alice asked wondering the same thing I was.

"No, but Emmett bet me that I wouldn't make it to school before him this morning," she smiled wickedly, "now he has to take me shopping." I couldn't stop myself from laughing. All that, over a shopping trip? Emmett pulled up next to us. He looked pissed. We got out of the cars.

"That's not fair!" he whined, "you got a head start."

"It doesn't matter," Rose grinned, "I still won." She kissed him and started walking to class. I heard her whisper something about a consolation prize. I _did not_ want to know what that was. Alice dragged me to PE. On the way I caught Julian's scent. Alice probably did too, because she smiled when I whirled around to greet him.

"Hey," he said with his gorgeous smile.

"Hi," I piped. My voice cracked a little and Alice started laughing at me.

"I'll see you in the locker room," Alice giggled and ran off. I glared at her until she was out of sight.

"So, how are you? You've been gone for a week," Julian asked. I turned back to face him. He looked a bit concerned.

"I'm fine. Just some family stuff," I lied, sort of, looking at the ground. He knew I was lying. I only looked at the ground when I was lying. He put is hand under my chin and pulled my face up to look at him. Everything happened so quickly I didn't have time to stop it. He pressed his lips against mine and gently kissed me. I felt heat running through my body. No one's ever kissed me before. Something came over me. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me. He put his arms around my waist and held me tightly, when I started kissing him back.

It all felt so perfect. Then...

"No PDA on school premises!" a teacher yelled at us. We broke apart immediately. His face was so red. For the first time I wasn't embarrassed. Who knew something like this would happen to _me_? I grinned at him and he placed his arms back around my waist.

"I'm sorry," he sighed, "I couldn't help myself."

"It's okay. That was partly my fault too."

"Can we hang out later?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course," I replied. I pulled a piece of paper from my bag and wrote my number down. This was the first time I gave a boy my number willingly. I handed Julian the paper and he grabbed my hand. He kissed it gently.

"If I don't see you later, I'll call as soon as I get home," he promised. He walked me to the locker room and kissed me on cheek. I said good-bye and walked in to find Alice standing right in front of the door.

"What happened?" she demanded with a wide smile that barely fit on her small face.

I blushed and looked at the ground, "Nothing." It was obvious I was lying. I rushed to my locker to get changed. She wouldn't ask questions with other people around.

PE was boring as usual. Today we started badminton, or rather Alice and I start badminton. The other students started it last week. Alice was my partner of course. Together we beat all our apposing teams. They were such sore losers. PE went by pretty quickly.

The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful. I entered the lunch room, looked around for Alice and the others. They were at our usual table. I bought my fake lunch and headed for my seat, when Julian caught me by surprise, again. His scent was still intoxicating. He was standing by the cafeteria doors looking at me. I smiled at him and he walked over.

"Do you want to eat lunch together?" he asked.

"Um," I looked over at my family and they nodded encouragingly, "sure." With that, he entwined his hand in mine and pulled me to his lunch table. Sitting there was a short girl with brown curly locks and grayish eyes and _Madison_. _What was _she _doing there?_ I thought angrily. Julian must have sensed my discomfort and whispered, "she's here because she's my cousin." _How did he already know I didn't like her?_ She probably ranted to him about me when she realized there was something going on between us. Figures.

We sat down opposite of them and she just glared at me.

"Madison, Alyssa this Harlan. My girlfriend," he announced. Everyone just gawked at him, including me. _Girlfriend?_ I could hear giggling and snickering coming from my family. Even all the way over here they could hear us. Being a vampire sucks. Madison looked like flames were going to blow out of her ears. She stood up and stocked out of the cafeteria.

"It's nice to meet you, Harlan," Alyssa said sincerely, "I'm sorry about Maddy, she's a bit high strung, if you know what I mean." We laughed a little, it was more comfortable when Madison was gone. I still don't know why she hates me so much. Lunch with Julian was more enjoyable, than I thought it would be. Alyssa was a really sweet girl. After lunch Julian walked me to my next class.

"Since when did I become your _girlfriend_?" I asked putting emphasis on girlfriend.

"I don't know," he admitted, "I _want_ you to be my girlfriend."

I burned scarlet, "I want _you_ to be my boyfriend." He pulled my face to his and kissed me for the second time. This one was more passionate, then the other. Someone cleared their throat. It was Lynn and Calvin. We said good-bye outside my class and I turned toward Lynn.

"I'm so sorry about Josephine," she said on the verge of tears.

"Yeah, it's been rough, but Julian's helping me cope," I said.

"I can tell," she teased.

"Are you coming to the ceremony today?" I asked.

"Yes, we'll be there around five." I hugged her good-bye before going inside the classroom. The day was over before knew it. My thoughts were wandering between the ceremony today and Julian.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own the original characters ONLY.**

* * *

We got home from school in record time, unfortunately. Alice and Esme planned out Josephine's funeral. Normally vampires wouldn't have a publicly announced funeral like this, but since we were attending school when it happened, it was the only choice.

Everyone went to help set up for the ceremony, but I went straight upstairs into Josephine's room. I sat on the floor next to her bed until Bella came looking for me.

"I've been looking all over for you," she said as she entered Josephine's room.

"Sorry," I mumbled. She looked at me with a sadness in her eyes.

"We should get ready," she suggested hoisting me up. I followed her into my bedroom silently where Alice and Rose were waiting for me. They did my hair and picked out my outfit. Alice wasn't as upbeat as she normally was. Rose was silent the whole time. We finished up in the bathroom and went downstairs just as Esme was coming in to call us. I was supposed to stand by the door and greet the guests, but it proved to be too much for me. Carlisle let me stay in the back next to the coffin that Josephine would be buried in. I heard some people talking about Cody having a funeral next week. I suppose I would need to attend that.

The ceremony was roughly three hours long. Lynn stayed after the other guests left. They joined us in burying Josephine. She was going to be buried under the boulder that I sat on the night she died. Of course, Emmett removed the boulder before Lynn showed up. We would put the boulder on top of her to make sure she never gets disturbed after Lynn leaves. Everyone walked, at human speed, to the burial site. The hole was already made. The tomb stone would be carved into the boulder.

We circled the hole and we each said farewell. I was last. I put my hand on top of her coffin and the tears I'd been holding back came pouring out.

"Jo-se-phine!" I cried, "We'll see each other again. I swear I'll visit you as much as I can." I could hardly breathe. She was really gone. This is good-bye. Alice pulled me back from the coffin, in case I stopped them from burying her. They lowered her into the hole slow and gently. We all took turns covering her coffin in dirt. After the hole was filled Alice took Lynn home. Lynn had been crying non-stop. She really loved my sister.

Emmett went to retrieve the boulder that was hidden in the trees. He set it down on top of Josephine's grave, creating a tomb for her. On the front of the boulder it read 'Here lies Josephine Gale may her soul rest in piece'. Under that were the dates she was born and died. I touched her tomb one more time before turning back to the house.

_Two months later..._

"Emmett!" Alice snarled. I rushed downstairs to watch Emmett get in trouble.

"What?" Emmett asked, playing dumb.

"You know what!" she screamed. She held out three dresses, each with at least thirty holes in them.

"I needed something to target practice with and the polka-dots..." Emmett's voice trailed off. Alice threw the dresses in his face and lunged. She punched him square in the face. Esme and Edward pulled her away from him.

"I'm not through with you!" Alice screamed as they dragged her upstairs. Emmett expression looked like a child being punished. I looked at him and we both broke out laughing. Edward walked back in and I stopped. Emmett kept laughing. Edward grabbed the Wii remote and chucked it at Emmett's head. The Wii remote shattered into a million pieces.

Emmett straightened up, "Now you have to buy another one." I ran out of the room before I could start laughing and get myself in trouble. As I was headed upstairs the door bell rang. I ran to the door and opened it.

"Hey Lynn!" I said loud enough so everyone knew we had company that _wasn't_ vampire. We hugged each other and I let her in. I took her to the living room, where Edward and Emmett were. As we walked in, they tried to make it look like nothing happened. The shards of the Wii remote were cleaned up and they were slumped on the couch watching television. I smiled, know what had just happened. Lynn looked at me curiously. She's gotten a lot more perceptive these last few months. Especially because she started to spend a lot of time here after she stopped dating Calvin.

"Hi Lynn," Edward and Emmett said in unison.

"Hey," she said cheerfully. I jumped onto the sofa with the boys and she went to sit in the arm chair.

"What are you guys doing today?" she asked.

"There isn't much to do in Washington during the summer," Emmett lied. In truth, we were going hunting today. Alice saw Lynn coming so we had to get her to go home.

"I was wondering if you guys wanted go camping, again" she proposed, "I promise not to get hurt this time." I giggled a little and she blushed.

"Today isn't a good day to go camping for us," Edward said.

"Why?" she asked.

"We're going to go visit some relatives in Alaska." I forgot about the visit to the Denali clan. We're supposed to hunt on the way.

"Oh," she sighed, "what about tomorrow?"

"Maybe," I said. She smiled and stood up.

"I guess I'll get going, then. See you tomorrow?" she asked.

"Sure." I walked her to the door. She hugged me good-bye and hopped into her car. Her mom bought her a car this summer. It was a cute little blue convertible. I watched her drive away and returned to the living room.

Alice and Esme came back while I was at the door. Alice was in the armchair biting her lip. She was glaring at Emmett who was laughing uncontrollably. Jasper appeared through the back door.

"What happened?" he asked Alice.

"He used my dresses for target practice," she whined. If she could cry, she would've. Jasper put his arms around her. There were soothing waves washing over us. Alice calmed down and Jasper took her upstairs. There was another knock a the door. I hoped that it wasn't Lynn again. Edward was smiling at me. I wanted to scream 'what!', but I had to get the door.

I opened it with my fingers crossed. It was Julian.

"Julian!" I piped, throwing my arms around him. Edward was laughing in the living room. Darn him.

"Hey," he chuckled giving me a kiss. I pulled him into the living room. He sat down on the arm chair and I sat on his lap.

"How's everyone?" he asked.

"We're great," they answered.

"So what brings you here today," Edward asked with a smirk on his face. _As if he doesn't know already._ I thought to myself. Julian looked a bit uneasy and Edward chuckled to himself.

"Well, I was actually wondering if I could talk to Harlan alone," he muttered.

"Of course," Esme said smiling at him, "come on. Let's give them some privacy." She ushered the boys out. I could hear Emmett bugging Edward to tell what was going to happen. Edward didn't say anything. I wonder what he wants to talk about.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Well, I was wondering if...you...would come and meet my parents."

"Of course, is that all? We didn't need to kick everyone out for..."

"That's not it. I want you to meet them because I got you this." He pulled a little black box out of his pocket. _What the!_

He opened it and inside there was a beautiful ring. The band was silver and there was and gorgeous emerald in the middle of two smaller diamonds. I was speechless. He probably saw my worry.

"It's a promise ring" he said quickly.

"Oh," was all I could say. I was still stunned.

"You don't like it. That's o-" he started. I threw my arms around him and kissed him.

"I love it, silly." He was glowing after that.

"I love you," he confessed. I took in a deep breathe. Taking in his scent and burning my throat.

"I love you, too." We kissed again. I don't know how long it was, but Edward and Bella came in and cleared their throats. Someone is always messing up the moment. Edward laughed.

Julian stepped back and took the ring out of the box. He grabbed my hand gently and slipped it on to my finger. He kissed me hand and I felt my face burn. To ruin the moment even more Alice bursts into the room panting.

"Their coming," she breathed.

"Who?" Bella asked.

"Marlo and Elizabeth," Edward said answering for Alice. Jasper came in after her. I felt my heart stop.

"Who's Marlo and Elizabeth?" Julian asked. Everyone just looked at Julian. We almost forgot he was there.

"My parents," I admitted.

"Isn't that a good thing," he said. I didn't really know what to say. He loves the human half of me, what would happen it he knew about the other half?

"You should explain it to him, Harlan," Edward suggested.

I hesitated, "Well, my parents coming is a bad thing because they want to fight with my family for me. You see my family is different from other people." I stopped to make sure he was processing everything.

"We are vampires," I stuttered on the word vampire.

"What?" he asked.

"Vampires."

"You're kidding right?"

"No," I answered. He slumped into the chair look at the faces around him.

"But don't vampires drink human..." Suddenly he looked frightened.

"Most vampires do," I told him, "we are what you would call 'vegetarians'. We only drink animal blood." There was a long silence. I could tell that Julian was thinking everything over. His muscles relaxed. I thought he was going to run. I wouldn't blame him. Instead he sat up straighter than before.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay? That's all you're going to say is 'okay'?" I asked, amazed.

* * *

**Review please! =D**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I only my original characters ONLY!**

**This is it! The last chapter! [:**

**Please review my story. Keep your eyes open, there might be a sequel. ;]**

* * *

"What did you expect me to say?" Julian asked.

"Honestly, I expected you to run from the house screaming 'they're psycho freaks!' or something" I chuckled. Julian was unbelievable. Even after the stories Bella told me, I didn't believe a person like that existed.

"Love is a wondrous thing," Edward proclaimed looking at Bella. Julian and I blushed at the word _love_.

"Let's get back no topic," said Alice, "Marlo and Elizabeth both plan on coming three days from now. From what I saw in my vision, they don't know anything about each other. Marlo will end up in the baseball clearing and Elizabeth will head straight for the house.

"We can work that to our advantage and catch them both by surprise. We can't let them team up."

"I don't understand. Why are they coming after you?" Julian asked me.

"It's a long story. I promise to tell you _everything_, as soon as this is dealt with," I assured him.

"Promise?"

"Promise," I said kissing him on the cheek. I don't know how it happened, but it did. There was a deafening explosion and a boulder came crashing into the side of the house. The windows didn't shatter, but it left every single inch of the glass wall cracked.

Alice and Jasper threw me and Julian to the back of the room. Emmett, Edward, and Carlisle ran outside to find out where the boulder came from. Esme flipped a switch on the wall and thick layer of metal rolled down over the windows. Rose and Bella went to retrieve Nessie who was napping in Edward's old room.

"What's going on?" Julian asked.

"I don't know," I replied.

"He came earlier than he planned," Alice hissed.

"Marlo is attacking from across the river!" Edward bellowed from outside.

There was another explosion and I saw the indent of a larger boulder in the metal that replaced the windows. Everyone rushed outside. Bella left Nessie in my care before leaving.

**Bella's POV:**

_Nessie!_ She was the first thing that came to my mind. Rose and I rushed to make sure she was okay. Renesmee was napping in Edward's old room. We reached the room and threw the door open. She _had_ woken up, but she wasn't frightened. She was standing at the cracked window trying to see what was going on outside. I swooped her into my arms and we ran back downstairs.

Esme had the metal shield over the windows. Alice and Jasper were standing over Harlan and Julian.

"What's going on?" Julian asked.

"I don't know," Harlan answered. I could tell she was afraid.

"He came earlier than he planned," Alice hissed.

"Marlo is attacking from across the river!" Edward screamed. He was outside. I have to go too. Another boulder slammed into the side of the house leaving a dent in the metal shield. There others ran outside. I handed Renesmee over to Harlan so that I could join them.

"Momma!" I heard Nessie yelling for me. I couldn't go to her. At that moment Esme came flying in my direction and I went to catch her. There was a battle raging on the other side of the river. We bounded across the river together and joined the battle. I could see Marlo fighting with Jasper. There were other vampires that I didn't recognize. Alice was fighting with a short girl with blond hair.

Of course, Alice was more agile than she. Rose had a tall red head in a head lock and was about to tear her head off. Emmett was taking on a tall, thin man with black hair and red rim glasses. Edward was fighting a girl with long white hair. She had black nails and a black ribbon in her hair. Edward wasn't touching her. It looked more like a dance than a fight. Esme was helping Carlisle with a big dark haired.

I ran as fast as I could to help Edward. As I got closer the girl turned her eyes on me.

"Don't touch her!" Edward screamed. He ripped a tree right out of the ground and swung it at her. I stopped running in shock.

"Why?" I asked.

"Every living thing she touches turns to stone!" he answered. _Is that possible?_ I dashed toward Edward and stood next to him. I was going to lunge before I heard three screams coming from the house.

**Harlan's POV:**

I felt so helpless. Nessie was crying in my arms. I tried as hard as I could not to cry with her. Julian had me and Nessie cradled in his arms. There were crashes that sounded like thunder coming from outside. Then, there was a bang that sounded like a tree falling over. Julian gasped. I had my eyes closed for a while. I opened them and standing in front us was Elizabeth.

"Looks like you father got here before I did," she smirked, "but I'll get you out of here before he can even reach the other side of the river. She lunged and Julian pushed us out of the way.

"Get out my way!" Elizabeth screamed throwing him against the wall. He slid down moaning in pain. I threw myself at her and she rolled into the hall. Julian tried to get up and I ran to help him. I started pulling him back towards Nessie when he was snatched out of my arms. Elizabeth kicked me and I flew past Nessie into a painting on the wall. It felt like all the bones in my body were shattering. Nessie and I screamed simultaneously when we saw Elizabeth. She was bent over Julian's neck and slowly sank her teeth into it.

His screams of pain broke my heart. Suddenly there many howls and I knew the wolves had arrived. Bella returned through the door. She picked Elizabeth up and threw her straight through the front door. Julian collapsed onto the floor in a heap. He was writhing in pain from Elizabeth's venom. Bella darted after Elizabeth before she could get away. Alice ran through the house to join her.

I crawled over to Julian, there was nothing I could do. Carlisle was in the house as I reached him.

"He's badly injured and he's lost a lot of blood. If we try to remove the venom he could die," Carlisle said sadly. This was all my fault. Damn Elizabeth. The pain in my body was disappearing. I heal faster than normal humans. I stood up and watched Carlisle take Julian upstairs. I didn't join them. Instead, I went to pick Nessie up and rush to the front lawn. Bella and Alice had Elizabeth on the ground. Bella had started a fire and Alice was making sure Elizabeth didn't get away. Bella returned to Elizabeth and looked at me.

"I don't care," I said. Elizabeth's eyes looked pained. With that, Bella began ripping Elizabeth up and throwing her pieces into the fire. The smoke turned purple and filled the air. There was purple smoke coming from back as well. I set Nessie on the stairs and told her to run to Carlisle's office. She listened and I ran out the back.

There were only two vampires. Marlo and a girl with white hair. The pack was circled around the fight. They were letting the others duel, waiting for them to need assistance. Emmett, Rose, and Jasper were taking care of Marlo. Edward and Bella seemed to be struggling with the girl.

"Angelina! Get Harlan!" Marlo screamed at the girl. She whirled around and lunged at me. I dodged her and she slammed into the window sending shards of glass all over. The wolves howled. A giant russet wolf ran over and threw a rope around Angelina's neck before she stood up. They threw her straight into the growing fire behind them. She ran back out covered in flames. Her clothes were burning off, but it didn't seem to bother her.

The wolves were snarling and circling her. They chased her into the woods. There were loud howls and snarls. There were also lots of cracking and smoke. Rose, Emmett, and Jasper were tearing Marlo into as many pieces they could get.

As soon as they finished the wolves returned. This time in human form. They were dragging some kind of rock behind them. When they got closer I realized it wasn't a rock. It resembled the statue of a howling wolf.

I heard someone gasp and I turned around. It was Bella. They had returned from destroying Elizabeth.

"What?" I asked, afraid of whatever answer she was going to give me. She wasn't the one that answered.

"That's Shane," Edward replied looking at the statue.

"How is that Shane?!" I asked with panic clearly in my voice. No one said anything. Everyone just stared at the statue of the howling wolf. _This is all my fault._ I dropped onto the floor and put my head on my knees. Someone picked me up and carried me into the house.

I opened my eyes and it was sunny. After my vision had refocused, I noticed someone staring at me from the corner of whatever room I was in. Suddenly Alice ran through the door.

"You're awake!" she screamed pulling me into a bone crushing hug.

"Um, Alice," I said trying to breathe.

"Oh, sorry," she said releasing me.

"What's going on? Where's everyone?" I asked. I looked around and realized I was in my room.

"Downstairs. Do you know what day it is?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

"Not really," I admitted.

"It's been six days since the attack," she said.

"Six days?!" I yelled jumping out of bed.

"Calm down. Everything is fine," she patted me on the back. Then, I remembered the person in the corner. I snapped my head in that direction and there was a vampire standing there. He stepped forward and I growled only for a second. This vampire looked so much like Julian.

"It's me," he said. It sounded like Julian, kind of. His voice rang like bells and his eyes were crimson red. He was bitten by Elizabeth. I almost forgot. Tears flooded my eyes and I threw myself at him. He caught me and caressed my hair.

"Julian, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," I cried.

"No it's not your fault," he told me. He pulled my face to look at him. Even though his eyes were not the same, I could still see the love he had for me. His eyes told me everything would be okay and I couldn't help, but believe it.

* * *

**I'm sorry for the bad ending. I'm not good at ending stories. =/**


	16. Chapter 16

**This is Part Two of my fanfiction. This first chapter is a bit short, but I'll write more for the next one. Please Read and Review~**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE TWILIGHT SAGA. I DO NOT CLAIM OWNERSHIP TO THE CHARACTERS STEPHENIE MEYER HAS CREATED, ONLY MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. [:  
**

* * *

_Josephine._

It was an unusually sunny day, for Forks anyway. The river was glistening like diamonds. This boulder has been _our_ spot. It still was. Every weekend I visit Josephine. Four years and I still can't believe she's gone.

I swung my body off the boulder, landing without a sound. Julian appeared in front of me and slipped his arms around my waist.

"How are you feeling, my love?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I assured him.

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." I smiled and he lifted me into his arms. He always insisted on carrying me.

Today was the big move. Julian and I were finally getting our own place. We decided to try living with just the two of us for a while. I was reluctant to agree. The Cullens are my family. I would miss them dearly, especially my Nessie.

She just reached full growth last year. Now that we could pass as the same age, we wanted to have fun together, but it was time for me to travel the world and expand my horizons. She completely understood, but she was avoiding me.

We reached the house within seconds. Julian set me down by the back door. Nessie opened the door and held it for us. I smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Nessie, I..." She held up a hand to cut me off. I sighed and dropped on to the sofa. Julian was at my side putting his arm around me for comfort. Nessie sat on the armrest of the sofa. I looked up and saw the tears welling up in her eyes. I opened my mouth to speak, but she put her right hand to my cheek.

She was showing me what she wanted. For me to visit as much as possible and for her to visit me as often as her parents allowed. As soon as the visions stopped she was running upstairs. I heard her bedroom door slam.

Julian caressed my arm, trying to calm me down. I hated hurting Ness this way.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine," Edward said entering the living room with Alice and Bella flanking him. I gave him a weak smile.

"I hope so," I replied, "you'll let her visit won't you?"

"Of course," assured Bella. I got up to give Bella a hug. She was like the mother I always wanted. Edward wrapped his arms around us. They let me go and Alice gave me hug, more like a death grip. Edward laughed and Alice kissed me on the cheek.

"You'll have a great time," she said, "I'll come see you as soon as you're settled." I was grateful for that. I don't know how long I could have gone without seeing Alice.

"We should get going," Julian said standing up. He gave Bella and Alice hugs. Julian and Edward shook hands briefly. We walked to the front door where Carlisle and Esme were waiting.

"You're always welcome here," Esme smiled.

"Yes, always," Carlisle agreed. They gave us a hugs good bye. Emmett and Rose weren't here to say good bye. I wish they were.

We opened the door and there they were. Standing next to a brand new bright red Lamborghini. I felt my mouth hanging open. Julian touched my chin slightly to remind me to close it. They guffawed at us.

"It's a good bye present," Rose told us.

"A beauty ain't it?" Emmett said admiring the car.

"You shouldn't have," I objected.

"Well, we already did," she teased and threw me the keys. I felt myself tearing up. Rose hugged me gently.

"You better visit munchkin."

"Of course." She released me and I gave Emmett a hug too.

"Thanks."

"No problem, little sister," he said with a grin. They said good bye to Julian and we got in the car. I let Julian drive because I was getting emotional. I rolled the window down and blew kisses to my family. They pretended to catch them and put them in their pockets.

I stuck my head out the window and yelled for Nessie. She came out just as we disappeared down the driveway.

"Good bye!" I yelled. She waved at me and they were gone. Lost among the trees.

"We're actually doing this."

"Yes, a life together at last," Julian agreed. He grabbed my hand and held it to his lips, kissing it gently.


End file.
